Dark Side of the Moon
by Bitter Ambrosia
Summary: Set two hundred years after Miracle Romance, this is a different sort of story, full of darkness and uncertainty. Hajime Tsukino is the protagonist this time, however, his life is fraught with peril and bad luck. What could be the reason? And what will happen? Read to find out.
1. Introduction

Imagine, the Silver Crystal has lived millennia upon millennia, and now has come to a descendant of the Moon once again, a very unique one. This one is a male. Hajime Tsukino is the unfortunate bearer of a vengeful Silver Crystal, the Crystal having become corrupt by its own desire to make things right for the unfortunate people that it has burdened. Using the Prince of the Moon as its vessel, the Silver Crystal is ready to remake the galaxy. What will happen?


	2. Prologue

Karin, Queen of Earth, had been dead for about fifty years. She died long after she thought her brother and sister-in-law died, when their auras had been cut off by the Silver Crystal encasing them. A new Queen now ruled Earth from the Palace in Crystal Tokyo, and she was fair as well as wise. She was Karin's Daughter, Usami, named for her aunt, Queen Serenity of the Moon Kingdom, originally known as Usagi, Sailor Moon. Queen Usami never learned how to travel to the moon, as Karin had not gone there after she felt her brother's aura vanish. The ruins of the Moon Kingdom stood empty save for Metallia, and three little cats. Sailor Sun summoned the cats to her place of watchfulness, making them appear before her.

"Luna, Artemis, Diana…" she said softly, as her own cat, Apollo, nuzzled each of them in greeting. They looked at her, sorrowful. "I am sorry my dear friends… I was unable to do anything because of my oath to only keep watch and not interfere… But I fear that the time is coming when I must break that oath. The heir to the Moon legacy is coming, and I must be there to help him."

"Him?!" Luna gasped, just as Artemis choked back a yowl of fear. Diana just looked shocked, watching Apollo walk back to his mistress. Sailor Sun nodded solemnly.

"Yes, him. I know the prophecies that surround the male heir, but still, it is his time. And I must be there to help him defeat the woman that destroyed the Moon Kingdom not once, but twice," Sailor Sun said quietly. "I must ask that you three help as well. Without you, I think the prophecies will fulfill their evil portent… I would not have that happen, not if I can help it. My oath is no longer valid. I am going to stop this from playing out in the way the evil beings want." Sailor Sun finally opened her eyes, and while they were pale yellow, they still seemed to blaze with fire. "Luna, Diana, and Artemis. Help me win against the evil that wishes to take the galaxy. We have defeated Chaos many a time before. It will never win." At the end of her mini-speech, she looked at the cats, expecting to be turned down. Luna and Artemis had been there at the very beginning, when the priests of the first Queen Serenity in Silver Millennium had predicted the male heir to the Moon legacy, and what his arrival meant.

"I will help you," Luna said, stepping forward. Diana followed, although Artemis was rather reluctant. "We all will." Glaring at Artemis, Luna got him to step forward as well. "I'm sure that a male heir is nothing to be worried about. We can keep the prophecy from coming true." Sailor Sun gave them a relieved smile as she closed her eyes, and Apollo went over to stand with the cats.

"Thank you," she said softly. "Now… The first thing is that we have to find him." Apollo nodded and started towards Earth through a small portal with Luna, Diana, and Artemis.

It would take many years, but they finally found him. Hajime Tsukino, an orphan who held tightly onto one simple thing: a crystalline rose that looked absolutely useless.


	3. Chapter 1

Eliana gave herself a final look in the mirror of her new apartment. It was still pretty bare, with a small kitchen, small common room, small bathroom, and a small closet that had her futon neatly folded in it as well as two other uniforms and a single change of casual clothes. She slept in in the common room which had a low table as it's only furnishing. Other than the mirror she was looking in now. First time having an apartment, first time wearing a school uniform as well. She tugged at the sleeve of her blazer, feeling odd about wearing actual sleeves after so long without them. She was use to her Sailor Sun Fuku, and hadn't gone without almost since she'd awakened as her true self, back at nearly the beginning of time. She could think of only two instances where she had changed back to Eliana.

She straightened her red bow and smoothed her dark blue skirt one last time before going to the door and slipping on her black shoes and heading out the door. Right outside on the railing for the covered walkway on the third floor was a light tan cat, dozing in the early morning sun light. He opened his eyes, a pale yellow around dark slits before yawning and stretching as only a cat could. "I am not accustomed to seeing you this way Sailor Sun." Apollo informed her, sitting up on the railing as he watched her lock up.

"Eliana. I told you, that is my true name remember?" she told him. "And most cats can't talk here, so please try to remember that and keep chatting to a minimum."

Apollo just meowed at her in response and hopped off the railing to trot a head of her. He walked her all the way to the school gate before hopping up on the wall and settling down. He was to observe from the outside. He'd tell his mistress when the target arrived and what he noticed about the boy. Anything that would help her get the information that she need from him and the necessary closeness.

First Eliana went to the teacher's lounge and introduced herself to her homeroom teacher. School had started seven weeks ago, she was transferring in a bit late, but thankfully she'd tested high enough to get herself placed in the third year classes. She was going to be in class 3-D, having used some fate manipulation to end up in the same class as her target. She'd furthered that manipulation by observing a seating rearrangement two days before and arranging for the empty seat in the room to be the one beside her Target who had a window seat in the back row of the class room. She was a last minute transfer, so they would have her books ready for her by the end of the day, but she'd have to share for until she got them.

She followed the teacher back to the classroom as the bell was about to ring and waited outside as he instructed. After he got the class to settle enough he made his announcements to the class.

"-and as the last bit, we have a transfer student coming into our class as I'm sure the whole school knows by now. Radcliffe-san would you please come in now?"

Eliana took a deep breath and opened the door, walking carefully into the room. She had her near platinum blonde hair pulled back into her usual low ponytail, though she'd actually tied it back with a red ribbon, leaving a small bow at the nape of her neck. She faced the class and gave a shy smile. She was pale with lightly pink lips and a small freckle near her left eye. Her eyes, usually a pale yellow, were now a deep green thanks to colored contacts. That was something new for her. She'd never worn contacts before and they sort of bothered her eyes. But it was necessary. Normal people didn't have yellow eyes.

There was a sea of faces before, and she was having trouble reading some of the expressions, though most were peaked wit curiosity and interest. She swallowed and bowed to the class. "Hajimemashite. I am Eliana Radcliffe. It is nice to meet you all. U-um.." She felt so nervous. She wasn't use to dealing with large groups, and certainly not as Eliana. "P-please take care of me." She straightened from her very proper bow but her hands remained clasped before her with her school bag in her clenched hands. She could feel her face heating up a bit with embarrassment. She'd stuttered a bit because of how nervous she was.

"Alright class, let's get the questions over with for Radcliffe-san."

"Where are you from?"

"Rome. I just moved to Crystal Tokyo a few days ago," she answered, having prepared this answer before.

"What's your favorite food?"

"Um... I haven't really tried much Japanese food yet so-" Of course she hadn't. Sailor Sun didn't need to eat. This whole hunger thing was another thing that was sort of new to her. She wasn't sure to needing to eat to survive. Her first day as Eliana again she'd nearly passed out before she realized she was hungry and that was the cause of her stomach pain. "I guess... I like olives?" they probably didn't even know what the food she'd eaten before was since it bad been over a millennia since the last time she'd eaten.

"Do you play any sports?"

"N-no... not really..." she answered. She'd never had cause to play any of the sports people played now. Though she'd watched a time or two. It was fun to see people having fun really.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Eh? Uh... n-n-no... I don't..." she answered, feeling her blush grow even more at the unexpected question. She ducked her head, feeling almost tongue tied by her growing nervousness and shyness.

"Alright. That's enough. You can ask more questions later. Now let's see. Go ahead and take that empty seat in the back," the teacher told her pointing to the seat she'd designed for herself to have.

She nodded mutely and went to her new seat.

"Tsukino-san, share your books with Radcliffe-san alright?" the teacher instructed and went on into the lesson without waiting for him to agree.

Hajime kicked a pebble along the path as he walked to school. His books were in his bag, which he had slung over his left shoulder, his left hand gripping the strap. His red hair was mussed, the wind having tossed it along the walk to school. He was looking down at the ground, but when he looked up, his silver eyes seemed to glitter in the sunlight. He'd been teased mercilessly about it when he'd been in elementary school, but had slowly gotten over it. Looking up as he came to a stop just before the school gate, he reached into his pocket, pulling out a small crystalline rose. Looking at it for a few seconds, appearing to have said a small prayer, he then tucked it back into his pocket and walked inside. The bell had yet to ring, and so he was in his seat at his usual time, only a few moments before the phone rang. He'd had a rough time lately, his parents having died in a freak train accident only months before. Looking out the window, he watched as some of the few stragglers dashed into the school building, listened as the bell rang. Once his teacher called attention to himself, Hajime looked forward, listening to the announcements. Then a pretty girl walked into the room, and Hajime listened to her too. She seemed rather shy, and towards the end of the questioning of her, his attention wandered slightly. Looking back out the window, he jumped when the teacher called his name. Looking forward once again, he nodded.

"Yes sensei," he said, and looked up as Eliana sat down next to him. He already had the book open, so he just scooted his desk closer to hers so that they wouldn't be holding the book up the entire class. "Here, this is where we're at right now," he said, pointing to a spot in the middle of the page. The notes that the teacher was writing on the chalkboard followed along with the text, which happened to be math.

Ah math. No matter how much time passed it never changed. 1+1 had equaled 2 for a very very long time. Same as 1x1 had equaled 1. She was very good at math. When she'd first started her watch, she'd been lonely and bored. So she'd watched the humans, learned everything she could from watching them. Then she had to start watching the skies. Still, she liked to watch the humans below and learn from them whenever she could afford to look away from the sky. Of course, she'd been keeping a very close eye on the moon over the last century. And anymore humans advanced very quickly. They had technology that she couldn't even begin to understand. It seems that happened every time she turned her back on them for a while though. She glanced over at him and nodded. "Thank you Tsukino-san," she said softly, scooting her own desk a bit closer to him. She didn't understand this contraption he was using and watched as he worked it, fascinated. 'I am going to seem like such an idiot... but it might be a good opportunity to get to know him better. And I do need to figure out how to use this thing.' "U-um... Tsukino-san... when we go on break... do you think I could have you show me how to use this? I've... I've never even seen one before today," she told him, trying to come up with her explanation as to why she hadn't. After all, 'Because I've been in the universe for so long and just observing everything for so long that I only just got to this world again,' seemed like very bad idea to try and explain to him.

"Sure," Hajime said immediately. He didn't think it was strange that she didn't know how to use it. In fact, he KNEW that there were places that didn't allow the use of the text reader that Crystal Tokyo had invented about twenty years ago. Rome was one of them. "It's not that difficult to get a hang of, and if you still need help, don't hesitate to call me. On the home page, there's a class list, and if you tap on my name, you can send a message to me." He quickly showed her this little aspect of the text reader and then tapped an icon on the screen to go back to the math text. He highlighted a few key equations and then wrote some notes with a stylus on the margin. Turning back to the class, he seemed to zone out after a few moments, and on a piece of paper he had kept close by, he started to draw with the pencil that had been lying next to it. As he drew, the picture started to take shape, and it was soon obvious that the picture was of a beautiful woman, heart shaped buns in her hair that were the beginning of floor length tails of hair. Her expression was immensely sad, and she seemed to be reaching for something, tears falling from her eyes. The gown she wore seemed diaphanous, sheer and at the same time somewhat opaque. Hajime seemed to realize what he was doing and he quickly flipped the paper over, his eyes flashing slightly as he looked at the text reader.

She watched him work, knowing she'd have to practice intensely on her own. But really, she was sort of excited about it. She'd observed school life for centuries, and she'd been rather envious of those girls that got to go to school and have fun with their friends. Find boys they like and live their lives. While she took her job seriously, sometimes she regretted how lonely her existence was. Until recently the other Senshi didn't even know she existed as she was supposed to be an observer.

She glanced over at what he was drawing, idly curious and then stiffened. Serenity?! Why was he drawing Serenity? He shouldn't know anything about her, even if he was awakening to his power... but if he was- and he could somehow see Serenity... she needed to figure out what his power was going to be like and she needed to know why he knew what Serenity looked like.


	4. Chapter 2

Eliana focused on the lesson until it was over and then turned to him, opening her mouth to make a casual comment about his drawing when suddenly half the class was around her desk, hounding her with sudden questions. What type of tea did she like? Did she like Crystal Tokyo so far? Did she want someone to so her around the school? What were her hobbies? And so on the questioning went.

'How can they expect me to answer when so many questions are asked at once?!' she wondered, feeling slightly frantic with all the attention. She didn't know answers about preferences since she had no idea what she did or did not like. "U-um... I like Crystal Tokyo so far... and I've never had much experience with tea honestly... so I can't give a good answer to that. Though I always like trying new things so maybe after I've been here a while can tell you. And maybe later? I'd rather just take things sort of slow till I get my feet under me here." she told them. Hobbies... what could she claim as a hobby? "Well... I do a lot of singing in my spare time... so I guess that's my hobby."

"EH? Really can you sing a bit for us?" a girl asked, perched on the end of the desk beside her.

Eliana flushed and looked down. "U-um... I... I don't know... I haven't sung in front of people recently so..." She glanced at Hajime unconsciously sending him a silent plea with her eyes to save her from the interrogation.

Hajime hadn't noticed her looking at his drawing, but was there to notice the look she gave him when she was bombarded with questions. Standing, it was noticeable that the students seemed to back away from him a bit.

"Can't you see that Eliana is overwhelmed at the moment?" he asked. "This isn't the best time to bombard her with useless questions. She has to figure things out. And as for showing her around the school, I've already been assigned that job. So bugger off." Hajime took another step forward to stand directly at her side. Glaring at the other students til they all drifted away, he then turned to look at her. Instead, his eyes seemed to fix on the door of the classroom and he stiffened slightly, as if seeing someone that no one else could see. After a few moments, he relaxed, but his expression was unreadable as he looked back at Eliana. "Let's go to the roof. No one will disturb us there, and there is a lot you need to know about this text reader."

She did not miss how the other students back away. What sort of reputation did he have at this school? She'd have to see if she could figure that out at some point. She looked at the door but she didn't see anything that was there, which worried her. What was he looking at and why did it make his so tense? She smiled up at him and got to her feet. "Right." she followed him out of the room before speaking up again. "Thank you for helping me out back there. I'm... not really good at dealing with a lot of people all at once. Not when it's not on my terms anyway." She did fine when she had to introduce herself to the Senshi all those years ago, but that had been something she'd known she'd have to do for a while, so she was prepared. Plus she'd meet them in Sanctuary- which was her domain.

"No problem," Hajime said. "You were stumbling over yourself trying to answer their questions. I hate it when they swarm people." He tucked his right hand into his pocket, unconsciously making sure that the crystalline rose was still there, but leaving his hand in his pocket, while with his left hand he held the text reader. They soon got to the roof and he sat down on one of the benches, and motioned her for to sit next to him. Making sure that she had seated herself, he began to run through the basics of the text reader, making sure she understood each before moving on to the next thing, and then making sure she was sure of the basics before moving on to the advanced things, quizzing her the whole time.

She was so absorbed in learning how to use the text reader that she nearly jumped out of her skin when the bell sounded. She put a hand to her heart, feeling it hammer beneath her fingers. That had startled her. She took a deep breath to calm her breathing as well and looked at him. "Does that mean class is starting again? Are we late? Or is it a warning bell?" she asked, following his lead on whether or not to get up.

"It's just the first bell. We have a few minutes to get back to class." Hajime stood up, and held a hand out to her to help her up before heading for the door. "We should hurry though. The hallways might be a bit crowded on the way back to class." He led the way, and even though the hallways WERE crowded, the students seemed to somehow still shy away from him.

He didn't seem like a trouble maker to her- so why was everyone shying away from him? He actually seemed like a very descent sort of fellow to her. She definitely needed to ask about why everyone seemed so jumpy about him. It was critical she make sure that his power was something that could be kept in check. And an unstable personality made for unstable power.

They took their seats again and she asked to be allowed to try and get the next text book they would need up before he pulled it up himself. She made a wrong selection once but corrected herself after taking a look at the screen it brought up, making the proper choice the next time. She smiled, pleased that she'd managed it. "I think I'm getting the hang of this thing. Thank you for being so patient with me Tsukino-san."

Hajime smiled, the first time he had done so all day.

"No need to thank me. I enjoy being able to help others." He stopped talking when the teacher started to lecture the class; it was English. At one point, the teacher called on Hajime, and he stood, reading from the text in flawless English. Sitting back down, he sighed as some of the students looked back with jealousy written in their features. "I swear. They don't understand..." he muttered, his hand resting on the paper he'd drawn on before.

She hadn't had a chance to ask about the drawing yet. "Where did you learn English?" she asked quietly. "Or are you just one of those that picks up languages easily?" she glanced at the drawing but still held back a bit longer on asking about it. Maybe during the next break.

"I just pick up languages easily. Also, my parents really liked me to excel in school, so I tended to study a lot," Hajime said quietly. "But now, since they're dead, and strange things seem to keep happening to me, studying seems to be something that I really don't focus on anymore."

She was silent for a few reasons. One: his parents were dead. Technically she already knew that but how the heck was she supposed to react to that? I'm sorry was probably something he was tired of hearing and it never made since to her. Either you're sorry because you feel responsible or you're sorry because you pity their loss. And if the first wasn't true then the latter seemed almost rude to her. Two: what strange things was he talking about exactly? "C-can I ask what you mean by strange things?" she asked in a hushed whisper, glancing up at the teacher. He didn't seem to mind that they were talking. Probably because it was expected that as a new student she was going to have questions and as long as she didn't disrupt class to ask them it was okay. Or something like that. She left the comment about his parents alone entirely.

Hajime looked at her, then smiled a little, his eyes sad.

"You're the first to have asked. The others just avoid me..." he admitted softly. "I see a woman. Beautiful but always always sad... She seems to be looking for something, but also asking me for help at the same time." He sighed and shook his head. "And sometimes terrible things happen around me. When my parents died, I was in the same accident. I survived... And others have been hurt when hanging out with me..." He looked at Eliana. "I understand if you don't want to be near me now..." 'That must be why everyone has been avoiding him,' she thought. She smiled a bit. "I may be shy, but I'm not timid," she told him quietly. "Besides, being avoided when you're not even doing anything wrong is just cruel," she informed him and nodded her head towards the drawing. "The picture you drew earlier. Is that the woman you see?" she asked. She seemed to take what he said as truth, not crazy talk. If he was actually having visions of Serenity... what could that mean? Well... she knew that Serenity wasn't actually dead... so could she be reaching out to her counterpart to find someone to aide her? It was possible... but these incidents of people around him being hurt worried her. His power might already have started to go out of control.

Hajime's hand twitched on the paper, but he flipped it over, looking at the drawing. It was quite good, almost realistic in his depiction of Serenity.

"Yes, that is her," he whispered. "She's important somehow... I feel... Something for her. It isn't love. How could I fall in love with a wraith of a woman who doesn't speak?" He laughed, and it sounded almost bitter. "But something draws me to her..."

She giggled softly. "You're really honest huh?" she told him with a smile. Oh she knew what it was that he felt, but how could she tell him that. Maybe she could find a way to hint at it. "So- to sort of change the subject- you said people around you get hurt? How?" she asked and then looked up quickly when the teacher called her name.

"I don't mind you asking questions by try to at least pay attention," he told her sternly. "Can you translate these lines in the book?" he asked. It was a challenge- something he didn't expect her to be able to do since she wasn't paying attention and she was transferring in from being 'home-schooled'. She looked at the text tablet of the kid next to her and stood as she'd seen the others do, reading the section from her own book without even a hint of an accent. She sounded like she was an American. Then sat back down. It was only once she was seated that she realized that what she'd done might have been odd. Because she didn't sound like she had an accent when she spoke Japanese either. Everyone- even the teacher- was staring at her. She blushed and looked down, her light hair hiding her face. 'I guess... most people this age can't speak another language so well that they sound native...' she thought.

The teacher broke from his surprise first and moved on to the next person with a 'right-' and starting to write on the board.

She glanced over at Tsukino. "Was that weird that I can speak English?" she asked.

Hajime shook his head.

"No, I don't think so. You came from Rome right? A lot of the classes there are in English from what I've heard," he said. He had 'forgotten' her question about the others getting hurt around him. His mind shied away from the disasters and friends that he had lost due to his incredible bad luck. "And yes, you could say I'm honest. You've been the first person in a while to show an interest in me specifically, not my astounding bad luck."

She raised her eyebrow. 'Bad luck? Please don't tell me his power is appearing as bad luck,' she thought. "Is your luck really that bad? I haven't notice anything yet," she pointed out.

"Well, you've not hung out with me long enough either," Hajime pointed out. "And yeah, I think it is. As soon as I start to become friendly enough with someone that I would like to invite the over to hang out, or to go to a movie or something, something falls, or almost runs over em." He shook his head. "I think it would be safer if we just spoke during school hours. I would hate to have to pick up your corpse if something happened." He didn't say it sarcastically, but matter of factly. It seemed something morbid, but something that he had come to terms with long before now.

She stared at him. Yeah, that was bad. "Well, it's not as if I would force you to become friends with me but- I have pretty strong good luck. So don't write me off to quickly okay?" she gave him a smile again and then focused on the lecture. She'd have Apollo follow him to see if any of this 'bad luck' happened while he was away from school. She'd need to find out the extend of he damage of whatever leak his power was coming from and help him find a way to keep it controlled, or at least manageable.

Hajime nodded, turning back to the class. This girl seemed rather persistant it appeared, and he was just fine with that.


	5. Chapter 3

As before, people crowded during the breaks, but at least now they were more restrained, only have a few people circulating her desk at a time and waiting between questions. Eliana discovered how much she didn't know about herself. Every time she was asked about a preference she was usually unable to give them an answer other than something vague about being new and not sure.

"What type of guys do you like?" a girl asked, leaning on her desk.

Eliana blinked, her expression going slightly blank. "I... haven't really thought much about it," she told her carefully, looking down a her desk. 'Not like I'd be able to anyway. A human's life is short, mine isn't.' She sighed, slightly depressed at the reminder of her somewhat lonely existence.

A few of the girls exchanged glances, wondering what her response meant. "A-anyway! Some of us are going to go to Karaoke after school. You wanna come with us?"

She tilted her head. "Karaoke?" She'd heard others talking about it, but she had no idea what it was.

"Yeah. You said you liked to sing right? Well it's a great way to do it. And you'd just be in front of a few friends, nothing to be nervous about."

"So... you sing at Karaoke?"

There was a long silence. "You're kidding right? You don't know what Karaoke is?"

She blushed. "I've lived a... sheltered life of sorts," she told them.

"Don't they have Karaoke in Rome? You never went with your friends from school?"

"This is the first time I've gone to school," Eliana told them. "I was home schooled before this."

More stares and more silence. "Wow... well we need to get you out from under the rock you've been living in. Seriously have you been in prison all you're life or something?" one of the girls joked.

Eliana didn't laugh, instead she sighed. She wasn't very good at lying and she had no idea how to tell them the kind of life she'd lived. "Let's just say I've been living in a place that's sort of out of touch with the rest of the world." She didn't want to have to talk about this anymore and so she used a very convenient drive away tool. "Tsukino-san, Sensei said that homework was on our text readers. Can you show me what he was talking about?" Sure enough as soon as he entered into conversation the others scattered. "Sorry," she murmured after he finished showing her. "For using you like that. I know it was rude but-" She stopped and shook her head. "No excuses. I'm sorry." She gave him an apologetic smile.

Hajime shook his head.

"It's fine. You really did need help with that, and I could tell that you were uncomfortable." He shrugged. "It's expected." After that, the rest of the day went rather smoothly, with him only needing to show her a few more things on the text reader before the day was through. The teacher gave Eliana her own text reader after the last class was over, and Hajime left a few seconds later, making his way home.

His apartment was a few minutes away from the school, and just big enough for him. A few tasteful pictures of waterfalls decorated the living room, and a picture of his parents rested on the mantel near the television. He took his school bag into his own room, which was decorated quite differently. It was nearly covered with overlapping pictures of the beautiful woman, her sad eyes staring out from every drawing, some of them colored, most of them black and white. The colored ones seemed more alive, her silver eyes drawing Hajime in, her silver hair, which faded to blue, nearly brushing the ground beneath her feet, the ground strewn with rubble. Her silvery blue gown, diaphanous, opaque and sheer all at once, flowed about her. She reached for something, her ruby lips formed in a plea for help, and tears streaking down her face from the agonizing sorrow that filled her eyes. Hajime sighed as he put his schoolbag on his bed, and pulled out the drawing he had done that day. It was half finished, the ground beneath the woman's feet not drawn in, but some of the drawings on the wall were like that. He pinned the drawing to the wall and then sat on the bed, pulling the crystalline rose out of his pocket. Nothing odd had happened on the way home from school that day, for which he was thankful. Staring at the rose, he sighed, and looked up. There she was, floating in the doorway of his room. Reaching out, her sad silver eyes pleading for help.

"What do you want from me?" he wearily asked of the wraith, but she merely faded away, and he put his face in his hands.

Apollo had followed the boy home as Sailor Sun had requested him to. No matter how much she asked him to call her Eliana that just wasn't who she was to him. He made his way up to the door of his apartment, noting the location as well as the number before we wandered around the apartment itself to see what he could see. He looked up, and counted windows, trying to get a rough idea of where the kids apartment was located. He found it and then looked around. Good there was no one else about and he didn't feel anyone watching. He jumped, much higher than a normal cat could have, the sun mark on his forehead glowing for a moment then fading again when he landed on the balcony he wanted. And as luck would have it the balcony was for the kids room. He stared at the walls, filled with drawings of Princess Serenity. All of them looked more or less the same. She was surrounded by destruction, tears spilling out of sad eyes that pleaded for help. Sailor Sun had relayed to him that he seemed to have visions of her, but this was something else. He sat down outside the window, studying the room and then his ears perked, catching Hajime's voice asking what was wanted from him. He wasn't looking at Apollo, but instead towards his doorway- which was empty. Did he see her again?

Apollo wondered for a moment what he should do, and then decided to try and play out a possibility to learn more about this kid. He sighed. It was going to be so undignified, but he had to do as duty required him to do. He mustered up his courage and then let out a somewhat pitiful meow, and pawed at the door of the balcony as if trying to get it open on his own. Technically he could have, but since a cat couldn't have, he had to pretend to be a normal, disgraceful feline.

Hajime jumped at the sound of a cat meowing, and looked towards the door of his balcony. Seeing a cat trying to get in his door, he stood and went over, opening the door. Stopping down, he gently picked up the tan cat, not sure if it had fallen and hurt itself.

"Well there sir," he said softly. He smiled and rubbed the cat's head slightly, petting him. "How did you end up out there?" Stepping out onto the balcony, Hajime looked up, wondering if the cat had fallen. "Did you fall from somewhere up there? Are you hurt?" he asked. He was high enough in the structure that there was no possible way for the cat to have jumped onto his porch. Shaking his head, he took the cat inside his room and out to the living room, closing his door behind him. There was a small partition that kept the kitchen somewhat separate from the living room, and after setting the cat down on the couch, he went to the kitchen. "Are you hungry sir cat?" He opened a can of tuna, and putting it onto a plate, took it out to the living room for the cat to eat. "There you go." Hajime briefly went back into his room to grab the crystalline rose, and tucked it into his pocket before returning to the living room and sitting beside the cat, after closing the door behind him.

Feeling he would never be able to rid himself this undignified act Apollo purred and rubbed his head against Hajime's chins giving a soft meow. He stayed still, sitting with his tail curled around his paws as he waited for Hajime to return from the kitchen. Tuna... well... like Sailor Sun he didn't tend to need to eat, but... he did like tuna... He started in on the fish as soon as the plate was down, savoring the rare treat. He stopped when Hajime went back into his room, wondering what the kid was doing, but soon enough Hajime returned and took a seat beside him. Apollo eyed him for a moment, his yellow eyes calculating before he returned his attention to the fish.

Having finished the prepared snack he shifted to lay against Hajime's side, giving a purr of thanks for the food. He felt something hard in his pocket and then shifted, doing as any curious cat would and pounced on the pocket, his paws pressing on the rose before starting to lightly bap at it from within his pocket.

Hajime had turned on the television, but left it a low volume, and so didn't notice at first what the tan cat was doing. When he did though, he gently pushed the cat away.

"That's not for play sir cat," he said softly. He pulled the rose out of his pocket and let it rest in his hand, letting the light catch the crystal petals. "It's special. And very fragile." He looked over at the cat, and noticed, for the first time, that there was a small golden sun upon its forehead. "Well there's something you don't see everyday," he murmured softly, gently tapping the small sun before petting the cat. "You seem special too."

Apollo disgraced himself farther with another meow and leaning into the hand that was petting him. He then walked over to the rose, sniffing at it. He stared at it a moment, trying to figure out just what is was. He could feel the magic coming off of the rose and then his back arched. The crystal! He already had the crystal in his possession. He needed to report this to Sailor Sun as soon as possible! He started to move and then froze. He'd have to reveal himself in order to talk to her, or to get out of the apartment... that meant- that so long as he wanted to be able to use this path in the future he'd have to avoid burning the bridge so to speak. He hopped off the couch and started to explore the apartment- or the rooms that were open to him- as a good little kitty would. He'd have to tell her whenever he managed to find a convenient way out of the apartment.

Hajime blinked in surprise when the cat arched his back. Maybe he didn't like the rose. Watching as the cat walked around the apartment, Hajime realized that he didn't have a litterbox for the cat.

"Sir cat, if I open the door for you, you can come and go as you please," he said tactfully, standing and going to the front door. He opened it slightly, and smiled a little at the cat. "Don't worry." Just then, something dark danced through the door, destructive as it ripped through the room. Hajime had ducked, and he didn't see the woman from down the hallway who seemed to throw a fit that she had missed. Dressed in a tattered Victorian Era gown, and her black hair writhed around her pale face, as if made from snakes...

Apollo saw her and let out a roar that should not have come from a cat his size, his back arched and he glared at the woman, his fangs bared, but then she was gone. He charged forward, tail erect and twitching. he couldn't feel her presence any longer. There was no doubt about it. That had been Metalia. He really did need to tell Sailor Sun. She'd already found him so they didn't have a lot of time to act. He trotted towards the boy now, making sure that the attack had indeed missed him, eying him carefully.

Hajime looked up from where he had fallen, shielding himself. He had heard the roar and was a little shaken. Looking about at his living room, he sighed.

"Not again..." he groaned. Looking back at the cat, he smiled wanly. "I sure hope that you aren't the one who just roared... I've had enough of strange things today..."

His tail flicked back and forth and was still a bit fluffled, but he just meowed at him and then rubbed on his leg as he made his way out through the crack in the door. He got down the hall before light enveloped him and he vanished, reappearing in the appartment. "Sailor Sun we have a problem!" he told her- wasting no time at all on pleasantries.

"What happened?" she asked, setting aside her text reader, her eyes once again pale yellow since she'd taken the contacts out.

He told her everything that he had discovered while at the apartment. "We must act now Sailor Sun."

"Not yet. He's already on edge enough with everything that's been happening to him. I need to gain more confidence with him before I can act. And I need to determine how much of his power had started to leak out... Though it's possible all the bad things that have happened have been a result of Metallia trying to attack him..." She closed her eyes, thinking. "Go back to his apartment and stay with him. If he's leaving the door open for you, then slip out whenever you can to come and let me know when there is a development. If worse comes to worse you have my permission to act accordingly for the safety of him an those around him." He told him.

Apollo nodded and the glow surrounded him again, taking him to the roof of the apartment- where he was sure he wouldn't be seen. He looked down, locating the floor he wanted and check that on one was around before jumping of and drifting onto the railing of the floor he wanted. He jumped down from the railing and went to the door, which was still slightly cracked and pushed it open with a meow to let him know he had returned.

Hajime had started to clean up the mess the dark thing had created in his apartment. When he heard the cat meow, he turned, and went over to pick him up.

"Well sir cat, I thought that you had left for good. I wouldn't blame you after this," he said, then settled the cat on one of the intact surfaces of the living room. He turned and continued to clean up shards of glass, warning the cat to keep where he is so that he didn't get glass in his paws. Pausing for a few moments, Hajime looked at the cat. "You know, I think we would get along better if I could figure out your name," he said. Going over to the trash can, Hajime threw out all the glass, and then walked back to start cleaning up more, some wood shards and some cotton from the couch. "I'm going to have to replace some things again... As for your name though. I wonder what it could be..."

Apollo remained silent, just watching him. 'If he tried to rename me Fluffy or Kittykins or anything like that I am going to scratch his mouth off.' he thought. It's not like he had anyway of telling him, 'My name is Apollo' without actually saying it or doing something uncat-like and spelling it out for him.

In the morning he got himself let out and sent a quick message to Sailor Sun to let her know he was leaving for school soon and he was actually only slightly out of her way. She'd just have to take about a block or two that she normally didn't if she wanted to 'bump' into him. She thanked him and told him to continue sticking with Tsukino-san. Apollo yawned and stretched before settling down on the railing to wait. Once Hajime was heading out he got up and started walking beside him. They got about a block before Apollo spotted Sailor Sun. She was walking at a liesurely pace just ahead of them. She wouldn't force her company onto Tsukino-san so she decided to let him decide if he wanted to call out to her. She could feel Apollo so she'd known exactly where he was to know when to start walking again- as she'd actually been waiting for a few minutes for them to head out.

Apollo debated trotting up to her to force an encounter- he wanted her to feel that she had enough of this Hajime kid's confidence to start acting- but decided against it. For now he'd just keep walking beside him and follow her lead. Let him take that step on his own.

Hajime walked silently, curious about the cat, then snapped his fingers.

"I got it. Apollo. Ancient Greek god of the sun. From that little sun on your forehead." Hajime tilted his head to the side, smiling a bit. "Does that sound good?" His hand was in his pocket, as if making sure that the rose was there. "I think it sounds dignified, and it seems to suit you." He looked up, and saw Eliana, he almost raised his hand to wave at her, but thought better of it. After the incident the day before, he didn't want to take any chances. She seemed like a genuine person, and he didn't want her to get hurt because of his incredibly bad luck.

'Oh good grief. Just hurry and and get to know her so we can finish our jobs and go back to Sanctuary,' Apollo thought exasperated. But the fact that he'd gotten his name right did please him. And it gave him an excuse. He gave a meow, looking up at him before looking forward again. As he hoped, his meow made Sailor Sun turn around.

'Rotten cat. I told you to let he decide if he wanted to walk with me,' she thought to her cat and then smiled, stopping. "Good morning Tsukino-kun," she told him, waiting for him to catch up. "Thank you again for showing me how to use the text reader. It really helped. I'd have been at a loss for doing the homework last night otherwise." She wanted to avoid lying to him if she could so she had to think for a moment on how to ask about Apollo without lying. "He's a handsome cat. Is he yours or just following you around?"

"Good morning, Eliana," Hajime said. His grip on the crystalline rose in his pocket tightened slightly, but he soon relaxed. Sometimes, he had a strong feeling of impending disaster if something was to happen, but for some reason, he felt at ease. When she asked about Apollo, he looked down at the cat and smiled. "He fell from someone else's apartment above me yesterday I think. Either that, or he's just a very daring climber. Anyways, he was on my balcony and he's just stuck around." Realizing that he'd forgotten the homework, he groaned. "Shoot... Alot happened yesterday afternoon, and I completely forgot about the homework. Was it easy? I think I'll have enough time to get some of it done before class if we run now."

"Well... it wasn't too difficult but there was some of it I wasn't sure about. I can try to help you if you want." she told him picking up her pace. He's said 'we' so she assumed he planned to walk with her now... or run with her at least. "Wanna talk about what happened?" she asked as they moved. "I think I'm a pretty good listener." she assured him.

Apollo kept up with them and when they reached the gate he went up a head a bit and jumped onto the wall of the gate, settling down to take a nap in the sun.

"Just another one of those bad luck incidents," Hajime said, shrugging. "Nothing really to worry about. And sweet. I could help you with what you had trouble with if I understand it." He grimaced. "I hope there wasn't a whole lot..." He looked up at Apollo. "I'll see you after school Apollo. You don't have to wait up for me if you don't want to. I left the door to the apartment slightly open if you wanna go back there. No one will walk in."

Apollo just yawned and turned away from them- mostly to avoid the raised eyebrow that she was giving him.

"You named him Apollo?" she asked, following him up to the classroom. "It should be okay if I help you out. It didn't take long to do math, but history took me a little while," she told him. 'Mostly becuase it's not fully acurate in you text reader and I had to go and read the darn thing to make sure I didn't put something down historians didn't record,' she thought, following him into the room. There were a few other people in the room already and she gave them as cheerful a greeting as she could. It had only been a day so she was still a bit uncomfortable around others.

She pulled out her text reader and opened it up to the math section. "Alright, let me know as soon as you think you need help. I'm pretty good at math," she told him.

"I just kept calling him sir cat, and I felt that it was a little too formal. And he has that little golden sun on his forehead too. So I called him Apollo. He was the ancient Greek god of the sun." Hajime shrugged. "It seemed to fit him." Once they got to the classroom, he sat down and quickly zipped through his homework. It turned out to be something that he had already learned. "Well, you're right, that wasn't too hard at all."

She'd watched him the whole time, seeing what he did with the tools available on their text reader to help him along. 'I see... so that's how a calculator works.' she thought. "Hey so, what happened that was bad luck?" she asked. "Did you see that woman at all around the time? I wonder if maybe seeing her and those incidents are somehow connected." she asked, trying to get him talking about what was happening with him. She needed more information if she was going to be able to help him. But at least- after having meet him- she wasn't as worried about him having an out of control personality that would put the universe at risk.

Hajime pondered her observation thoughtfully.

"You know, that is rather true. Every time I see her, it means that something is going to happen," he says softly. "I wish it wasn't true. She seems so desperate for my help. I don't know what she wants from me..." He sounded bitterly depressed about it, not know what he needed to do to help the woman move on, or so to speak. "It's like she's from another world, and there is some other force that took her from it." Looking up at Eliana, he sighed. "I don't know why you are so interested, but I'm glad that you are. It's a relief to be able to talk to someone about it. No one else would believe me if I tried to explain something like this to them. Maybe later you can help me get things for Apollo so that he is more comfortable in my place. I also need to get some new furniture..." He shook his head and sighed again. "I could show you some of the pictures that I have of the woman."

'I already know the woman, but I have no idea how to tell you this yet.' she thought giving him a slight smile. She was glad he wanted to keep Apollo around. Honestly it would do him some good to be forced to be a 'normal' cat for once. Not to mention it would offer extra protection since she couldn't safely be around him all the time. "Sure, I'd be glad to help. I need to learn my way around town anyway." she told him, leaning forward on her desk slightly. She'd turned her desk to face his for the time being, so the action brought her closer to him. "As for the woman... I don't want to say someone stuck in such misery is the cause of this bad luck you're having... so... maybe she's trying to warn you that it's coming somehow." she hesitated a moment then added. "As for helping her, I'll do everything I can to help you do that." she promised, staring at him with a sincere intensity. She needed to find a way to make this bad luck end. Based on what Apollo and told her, Metalia had found him and knew who he was. She was trying to eliminate him before he could become a threat to her... 'at least she's not trying to recruit him to her side or anything...' she thought. Honestly his best defense for when she wasn't around was his own power... but with the prophecy looming over him... she'd need to make sure any release of his power was carefully controlled...

Hajime nodded.

"If she's trying to warn me, she's doing a decent job. I only wish..." He sighed. "She has an ethereal quality to her, otherworldly. I only wish I knew what was going on..."

Eliana smiled but didn't offer an answer. How could she at this point? She needed for him to figure out who he was a little more... and telling him how to release his power would be of some extra help. He already had the crystal... she just needed him to not take such a firm hold of it that Princess Serenity and Prince Dymion were released from the seal. They'd be taken captive by Metalia or killed...

Class started to much later thankfully, giving her time to try and think. She sat there, wondering what she could do to help him. If she could use her power as some sort of a buffer and a barrier for his own... it should help him keep his own power in check and keep the protection on their Majesties from disappearing... but how to give him that was the challenge.

She sighed, resting her forehead against her hand for a moment before she started to fiddle with hr bangs, twirling the golden hair around her finger. It was then that she got the idea, sitting up straighter as it occured to her. She could LITERALLY give him a part of her power. A ring. But... would he wear it? She could fashion a ring from her hair- a piece of herself- and that would help her to take the brunt of his power if she ever had to should he lose control... but would he- a guy- wear a ring? She knew men wore rings after they were married usually... but would he? She looked around the room. Yes... there were a few guys in the room that had rings on as accesories. Good. Now to let him know that crystal would help him release his power. She smiled ever so slightly. That would be easy enough. She closed her eyes and contacted Apollo to tell him the plan.


	6. Chapter 4

School finished at last and Eliana stood, gathering her things. "So, where should we go first to get things for Mr. Apollo?" she asked.

"I was thinking the local pet store. There's one not too far from here," Hajime said, and began to lead the way. It took about ten minutes, but they got there. "Okay, so maybe a bed and a scratching post..." Hajime was talking to himself as he checked prices on things, then decided on two that were modestly priced and decently sized. "I think he'll like them. Okay now, onto the grocery store." He led the way again, taking Eliana with him to the grocery store. "Let's get some tuna, and some cat food." Grabbing a decent amount of each, he led the way back to his apartment. On the way, something happened again. A heavy metal beam that had been slowly been lifted into the air for a building that was under construction now fell, hurtling towards the two going towards Hajime's apartment. Hearing it coming, Hajime threw his items and shoved Eliana out of the way before dodging himself. It was a close call. "Dammit!" he hissed. A dark wisp of energy siphoned off of him, invisible to most everyone.

Eliana- who unlike the other sailor scouts that she'd seen working in the past did not possess a great deal of physical ability. So when he shoved her out of the way she did not to a graceful somersault and end up back on her feet. Instead she hit the ground and rolled, managing to whip herself around in time to see the energy seeping off him. She'd felt the energy of Metalia a second before the attack and had been preparing to protect him from it- not expecting the beam over them to be the target. 'His energy... it feels sort of corrupt...' she though, wincing as she got back to her feet. Her arm hurt from hitting the ground and her knees and palms were scrapped as well. "Tsukino-san, are you alright?" she asked, hurrying over to him. It seemed his energy was back under control for the moment but...

Apollo hurried over to the two, having been following behind them. He checked on Sailor Sun but she quickly sent him a thought to go to the boy instead. Grumbling under his breath he went to the boy and meowed, pawing gently at his leg.

"Well hello Apollo," Hajime said, semi-cheerfully. It was as if he was trying to brush off the incident. "And yes, I'm fine Eliana. However, you look like you scraped your knee when I pushed you out of the way. Let's hurry back to the apartment. Apollo, I can give you a ride if you don't mind just sitting on my shoulders." Holding a hand out to Eliana after gathering up his purchases, he smiled a little bit. "Let's go. When we get to my place we can clean out the scrape and bandage it so that it doesn't get infected. I can worry about furniture later."

She could already feel her body starting to heal the wound and shook her head. "I'm sure it's not as bad as it looks." she looked at the beam that had tried to crush them. Workers were hurrying towards them. "Oh dear..." she muttered, taking his hand.

"Are you kids alright?!"

"We're fine sir. No harm done." she assured him. "Guess we're pretty lucky huh?" she asked. She took about another minute to assure them that they were both fine before they were finally allowed to leave. "Did you see the sad Lady at all?" she asked. he hadn't given any indication that he had as far as she could tell, but it might help her figure out a way to tell when these attacks were going to happen more precisely if she could get more information.

Apollo had refused to ride on his shoulders, and chose to walk on the ground, though he was clearly acting like a watch dog more than a cat, alert to everything that went on around the two.

Hajime unlocked his door and set up the cat bed and scratching post, then put out a bowl of cat food for Apollo. Looking at Eliana, he motioned to the fridge.

"Do you want anything to eat or drink? You can help yourself," he said. Remembering her question from earlier, he shook his head. "And no, I didn't see the sad woman at all. Usually I do before a stroke of bad luck..."

"You know... maybe you should consider it more of good luck." she told him after thinking it over for a moment. "Normally someone would have died by now with some many things going wrong around them. But you haven't even really been hurt yet right?" she asked.

Apollo decided it was about time for him to act as she'd asked him two. He walked up to Hajime and then with a little jump hooked his claws into his pocket around the stone. Once Hajime tried to shoo him away he let go and trotted over to his bowl of tuna.

Eliana couldn't help a slight giggle. It was rather amusing to see Apollo behaving so 'cat-like'. "Do you have something in your pocket? Catnip perhaps?" she asked, giving him an easy smile.

Hajime hesitated. He'd never shown the crystalline rose to anyone before, but maybe this girl would be able to help him. She had this odd aura about her... Slowly pulling out the crystal, he held it in his closed fist for a few moments, still rather reluctant about showing her.

"This is what was in my pocket," he said after a few more agonizing moments. "It is very special. I have no idea why..." Standing, he went over to his room, and opened the door slightly. He still held the crystal in his hand, not quite willing to let her touch it. "Would you like to see what she really looks like?" he asked, unsure of why he was opening up to this girl whom he'd only met the day before.

Seeing the crystal herself was something she felt she needed to do before moving on. She'd been told about it but now she confirmed for herself. She followed him into his room and stared at all the pictures. It occurred to her that this wasn't the sort of thing someone would share with a stranger. "Tsukino-san... can I ask you something?" she turned to face him, her expression serious. "Would you say that you trust me?"

Apollo came to stand in the doorway to watch.

Hajime looked at the most prominent picture, the one that looked most realistic. It was large upon the wall, and the woman seemed actually to be crying, instead of having her tears painted on. Closing his eyes for a few moments, he then nodded, turning to Eliana.

"There's something about you that makes me want to trust you." His tone sounded somehow broken.

She let out a slow breath and stepped closer, closing the distance between them so she stood less than a foot away. She reached up and gently touched his cheek. "Then I think it only right I return the favor." she told him softly. "Who you see is Princess Serenity. Well more accurately Queen Serenity, ruler of the moon. However, the moon kingdom was destroyed 100 years ago, and she, along with her Husband the Prince of the Earth, were sealed away by the silver crystal. A crystal you now hold in your hand." She stepped back. "The strange things that have been happening to you are because Metallia, the monster responsible for the destruction of the Moon Kingdom, has found you, the one that can stop her, and she is now trying to kill you." She stepped back further. "If you would like me to continue to explain I can take you somewhere that will prove to you I'm not simply making all this up. Or I can let you try to absorb what I've told you so far. Your choice, Prince of the Moon Kingdom."

Hajime blinked when she touched his cheek, and then blinked again at what she said.

"Queen Serenity..." He shook his head. "It fits her somehow." Turning to Eliana, he finished listening to what she was saying. "After everything that has happened to me, I want to know everything," he said, his eyes earnest and his expression serious. "Take me to where you need to take me. I want to know." He hadn't heard the last bit about him being the Prince of the Moon Kingdom.

She gave him a slight smile. "Very well then." she pulled out a small contact case from her pocket. "Finally get to take these off," she murmured and then took out her contacts. She looked up at him, her eyes once again pale yellow. She held out her hand and a golden staff appeared before her, she gave it a little twirl. "Solar Power Make Up," she breathed. Light filled the room and when once it faded she stood before him as Sailor Sun. They were also no longer in his room. "This is what is left of the moon Kingdom," she told him, gesturing with one gloved and at the devastation around them.

Hajime, momentarily blinded by her light, gasped as he saw the devastation. There was rubble strewn everywhere, and what appeared to have once been a magnificent castle now was just pillars and burnt marble. The bodies of the people seemed to have turned to stone, and they lay everywhere. A crystal monolith drew his attention, and he walked slowly over to it. An infant, her small body now a stone figure, lay at the base. A shattered golden locket lay beside her, and it seemed to have originally had the shape of a star. It tinkled brokenly as he stepped forward, accidentally kicking it with his toe. Jumping as the melancholy few notes broke the silence, he noticed the couple imprisoned inside the monolith. The beautifully sad woman, she was there.

"Queen Serenity..." he whispered, touching the crystal. Her face was exactly as he had seen it before, sad and pleading. She was reaching towards the body of the infant, and her mouth was open, as if she was calling out in grief. The man beside her held her close to him, his face full of grief too. Both were young, maybe a few years older than him. "What is her husband's name? And the infant? Whose child was that?"

She came to stand beside him. "He was King Dymion, the twin brother of a Queen of Earth, Great Uncle to the current ruler." She looked down at the child sadly. "That was Princess Rina, their child. She'd have been four months a few weeks before this happened. When this happened." She reached out and tapped the monolith. "The Silver crystal that Queen Serenity used to protect placed them in this, protecting them from Metallia. That crystal is the crystal protected by the people of the moon. It has now found the one that will wield its power to rid this universe of its greatest threat. I'm not sure how you came to possess the crystal without awakening as the Guardian of the Moon, but it would appear that you have. Of course there has never been a male Moon Guardians before, so I have no way of predicting a common string of events for you." She looked back at the girl that had once been known as Usagi and bowed. "I am sorry, my friends, that I couldn't stop this from happening to you," she told them, her voice catching slightly.

Hajime watched her, and put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Eliana... I'll help save them. Whoever this Metallia is, I'll make sure she pays for this." His eyes flashed, and a dark wisp of energy escaped him again. Looking up at the youthful King and Queen, he bowed, paying his respects. "Queen Serenity, I think I've figured out how to help you. Please stop looking so sad..." A few yards away, a woman appeared, and this time, she was visible to Sailor Sun as well, since Hajime's hand was on her shoulder. Serenity looked just as she did in the crystal before them. Casting a mournful glance at her fallen child, she looked at the two and smiled slightly. The smile was knowing, as if she saw something beginning, or something ending.

Seeing that wisp made Eliana worry. "Tsuki-" She stopped however and stared, seeing Serenity before them. That smile... she wouldn't have smiled if things were looking to end badly... right? She looked at Hajime again and took his hand from her shoulder, examining his fingers. She'd never held a man's hand before- not that she could really remember as her memories of before she was Sailor Sun were vague. "Your hand is big," she commented, surprised. "And your fingers are long too." She fiddled a bit with the ring finger of his hand, trying to gauge the size of it. She looked up at him. "Would you be willing to wear a ring?" she asked.


	7. Chapter 5

Serenity disappeared as Eliana took his hand from her shoulder. Hajime looked at her, and gave her a startled look when she asked the question.

"What kind of ring?" he asked, not why she was asking. She was holding his left hand, as he had been standing on her right side.

"You have a lot of power, I can't even guess how much, and it's been leaking out of you from time to time. Honestly I can't say that EVERY bad thing that's happened around you had been Metallia's fault. I can give you a ring that will help you keep your power under control and in check till you better learn to do so yourself," she explained, having no idea the significance of the left hand. She knew about wedding rings but she never paid much attention to the customs of the people, just the threats that were happening around them. "I could get it to you as early as tomorrow unless you're willing to go to Sanctuary with me now and then it would only take maybe an hour, probably less. I can return you home whenever you like," she explained, still holding onto his left hand, her fingers around the base of his ring finger.

"We can go now," Hajime said amiably. "How bout we make it for my right hand though. I'm not planning on getting married anytime soon." His smile was warm and slightly joking, but he purposefully turned his back on the crystal, and the couple encased within. Seeing Serenity in life like that, it broke his heart. He knew she was sad, but could have never guessed why...

"Married?" she asked, and then it clicked. "EHHH!" She dropped his hand and shoved both of hers behind her back, her staff clattering to the ground. "S-sorry! I haven't really been part of the world for a long time, and so I didn't really think about which finger that wedding ring went on. I see, it's the left and finger. I-I'm sorry," she stammered, her pale face flushed. She cleared her throat and then stooped to pick up her staff again. "Right, so let's get going," she told him holding the staff out before her. "Oh and sorry for not warning you the first time. Close your eyes." Light flashed again and when it cleared they were in a room that was light in the center but dark shadows all around. The room seemed to have dim outlines of walls but they almost looked intangible. There were a few scattered plants in pots, but for the most part the room was bare and seemed to have nothing but pale colors.

Reaching up, she found a group of hair that she felt had the proper length before giving them a good tug, pulling her hair out. She held out her hand and the golden strands began to float before her. She held out her staff now in both hands and a gentle glow emanated from her, her clothes and hair moving in a breeze that seemed to be generating from her body. The hairs began to glow as well and then twisted around each other before looping into a circle. After a few minutes the seemed to start to change , the individual strands growing a little thicker and the color getting slightly darker. After about ten minutes the glowing stopped as did the breeze. Eliana opened her pale eyes again and held out her hand, and the once hairs fell into her palm. She examined her work, and then tested it out to make sure it was still properly connected to her. "Here." she told him, holding out the ring to him. "Wear this and it should held act as a buffer for your power."

Hajime almost laughed at her reaction, but did not, knowing that he would only embarrass her further. When they got to the Sanctuary, he looked around, observing everything, but when she started to do her work, he watched her closely, fascinated. Taking the ring from her, he looked at it, wondering how in the world she got it to look like a simple golden band instead of something made from her hair. Slipping it onto the ring finger of his right hand, he felt something different. His clothes felt different as well. Looking down, he realized he was dressed all in black. The clothing looking almost like a set of armor, with silver accents. A black mask covered his face, leaving only his mouth free. A silver crescent moon graced the top of the mask, and it seemed as if there was one glowing on his forehead behind it. White gloves covered his hands, and a sword was hanging from the silver belt at his waist. A black cape with a silver trim hung from his shoulders, and a small silver circlet was just barely visible through his mussed red hair.

"This is..." He held a hand up, then unsheathed the sword, the wicked edge gleaming in the dim light of the Sanctuary. "Incredible." Sheathing the sword again, he looked at Eliana. "This is what you meant by Senshi? I'm a guardian of the Earth and the Moon, right? At least, that's what my heart is telling me." From the depths of his pocket, something was glowing. Pulling the glowing item from his pocket, he realized that it was the crystalline rose, and for a moment, it appeared as it was. In the next moment, it was encased in a wallet shaped item. Inside the wallet, there was nothing, but there was room for cards, money, or other such items. "This is the Silver Crystal..." He looked at Eliana. "Moonlight Warrior. That's what I am. I'm a Moonlight Warrior. You are Sailor Sun. There's going to be other Senshi as well, isn't there?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yes, but they will not be the typical Senshi that have surrounded Sailor Moon. You are not Sailor Moon so it cannot be expected. I will try to assist you in finding the others, but I find living in the world of humans to be somewhat difficult. I have lived apart for so long. And currency had ended up being a problem. Who would have known it would cost so much to be able to live in that world." She sighed. "It's easier for me to assist you if I am not always bound in Sanctuary, so I will continue to be your classmate, Eliana. I have always been bound by a strict position of observer, but with times having changed so much I am finally being permitted to act as a Guardian. I do not know exactly to what extent this knew freedom goes... so I may be able to do little more than offer back support for you. Farther assistance will come from your other Senshi." She paused a moment.

"Whatever you can do will be a great help Eliana," Hajime said softly. "You've already helped so much. Serenity smiled. I've never seen her do that before." He smiled and walked over, giving her a slight hug. "If you ever need anything of me, don't hesitate to ask."Shaking his head, he pocketed the wallet, and twisted the ring slightly on his finger. In an instant, his transformation had vanished, and he was in his school uniform once again. "So that's how that works," he said to himself, then looked back at Eliana. "I like your eyes by the way. They're very beautiful." He was telling the truth, as he saw it, and didn't think of it any other way than just trying to help his new friend feel comfortable.

"Eh?" her eyes went wide for a moment and then she looked down, her face growing hot. She could feel her heart beating harder in her chest, something that confused her greatly. "Thank you... most people would probably find such a pale unatural color frightening..." she kept her eyes down for a moment and then forced her mind away from her beating heart. "Come. I'll take you back home now. We have homework to do after all."

As soon as they appeared in the room again Apollo jumped up, and pounced on Eliana. He jumped off quickly, landing on the bed before she could do anything. He was glaring at her silently.

"Oh. I should probably add. Apollo is with me. He's sort of like my companion," she told him, her own Senshi Fuku being replaced by her school uniform. "He was checking out your place and evidently you just let him in... so he stayed. Would you mind keeping him longer? He can act in my stead to assist you if I'm not around, both in being able to contact me, and despite his small stature, he does have a lot of power," she told him.

Apollo wasn't sure if that meant he was allowed to talk now or not, so instead he just stayed silent.

Hajime found himself smiling even wider when she blushed, and then found himself wondering why it felt so right to be with her like that. When they got back to his apartment, he listened to what she was saying, and then nodded.

"So it WAS you who roared the other day. I was wondering where the lion came from," he chuckled, picking Apollo up. "You know, it's not so bad being a housecat," he added when he noticed Apollo looking with disdain at the bed, scratching post, and cat food that he'd bought for him. "You don't have to worry about getting yourself fed or watered, or about where you'll sleep. You just have to worry about what you're going to do for the day."

Eliana giggled. "Apollo's never been a 'normal' cat before so I think you'll find he acts rather disagreeable at times. But he's actually not so bad once you get to know him," she told him. She went over and gave him a pet on the head. 'Now you be good for Tsukino-san. He has enough to worry about as it is and I don't need trying to make you happy one of them. Take it as a learning experience. If you wish to speak you can, so long as you know it won't freak him out or cause in trouble.'

Apollo grumbled under his breath, which ended up sounding like a soft growl in his throat. But he made no move to free himself from the merciless pair of 'torturers.'

Eliana just smiled and shook her head. "Mind if we do homework here? History that you are taught is flawed from what really happened so I seem to get a bit confused," she told him.

"Sure. Only if you tell me what really happened. I'm curious. What's it like being up there, seeing things?" Hajime asked, pulling his text reader out of the school bag he'd dropped near the door when they'd gotten home.

"It's interesting. Things change so quickly when you look at it from a period of as long as I have," she told him. 'But it's lonely being but there with only me and Apollo,' she thought, but kept that bit to herself. She didn't want anyone feeling sorry for her. So as they went through the assignment she filled him in on some of the things that she had seen, things the history books had decided to leave out.

Once all their homework was done she got to her feet. "Well I guess I'll be heading out. I have to get something from the store for dinner so-" she flushed slightly when her stomach growled to confirm her statement. "I'm still not quite use to needing to eat yet so I keep forgetting."

"Stay here and I'll make something for us," Hajime said, motioning her to the couch as he walked to the kitchen. He clattered about, making something simple. "It's not much, but at least it's healthy and nourishing."

She started to the couch and then stopped. "Wait... you're going to cook something?" she asked, doubling back to follow him into the kitchen. "Can I watch? I haven't cooked anything since before I became a Senshi," she told him. "So really, I don't know how to cook. Think you could sort of teach me a bit? Since I'm here anyway?" she asked, her hands lightly clasped behind her back, her pale eyes holding a sort of shy plead. She wanted to learn to be more self-reliant in this world, since it was a rare opportunity and she didn't know when she'd get it again.

"Sure." Hajime began to get supplies and ingredients out, and then gently directed her on how to put certain things together. Soon, dinner was ready, and Hajime tasted a spoonful. "This is good." He'd let Eliana do most of the cooking, and after her confession about not knowing how to cook, he'd not expected it to taste good, so a slight note of surprise colored his voice.

Since she knew she didn't know how to cook she decided not to get offended by the surprise in his voice. Instead she just gave a soft smile and single note of a soft laugh under her breath. "Well, all I had to do was follow your instruction. I'm a quick learner, I just have to be shown what to do," she told him. "Where do you keep your plates?" she asked, getting out two plates then halting. "Would you like some too Apollo?" she asked.

Apollo sat in the kitchen entryway, watching. This was not how he was accustomed to seeing Sailor Sun. While those soft smiles were not uncommon, usually they didn't have such happy luster. Nor was hearing her laugh common. But she kept doing it now. She was so... human. Something he'd never really considered her before. In answer to her question he turned her back on them and went to his little plate of tuna. It was tasty so he was just fine with it- though he ate around the cat food, refusing to stoop THAT low. How could it possible taste good?

Eliana giggled softly at his response. 'Only a cat could shun a person like that. Even if he doesn't want to admit he's at all the same as a common cat,' she thought, and closed the cupboard and dished out the food.

"Thank you. For showing me how to do so much today," she told him as the headed to the small dining room table.

Hajime shook his head, smiling slightly.

"It's no problem. You showed me a lot today too. I feel like it's an equivalent exchange of sorts. I'm glad I'm a little more in the know about what's been happening to me."

'Trusting him was the right choice to make at this time,' Eliana thought, taking a seat. She'd been a bit worried about telling him, not sure how he'd take it. But it seemed he was open minded about this whole thing. Plus, Serenity showing herself to him had probably helped. He had a similar desire to help others as she had. 'If only that prophecy wasn't looming over our heads... no, don't dwell on it. With that ring you can monitor his power now. So you'll know if things start to go sour will enough warning to stop it,' she reminded herself as they ate in comfortable silence.

Afterwards she assisted with the dishes and then gathered her things. "I'll be heading home now. See you tomorrow then." she told him with a slight bow before heading out the door.

Apollo sighed. He understood he was to remain here with the boy... but still... he was not often apart from Sailor Sun... and this 'act like a normal cat' business was frustrating.

Hajime watched her go and then turned to Apollo.

"Well, you're a special cat then," he said after a few moments. "I'm sure you think you have something better to do." Leaning in and petting Apollo's head, he sighed. "Thank you for taking care of her at least. She seems so lonely and everything else. You must have been through a lot to keep her sane." So saying, he stood and went into his room, closing the door behind him so that Apollo was left alone in the living room area.

Apollo just sat there, contemplating. He'd done nothing to 'keep her sane.' In fact he usually disliked anytime she got involved with others as it always made that lonely expression become clearer when they were alone. He didn't understand it. He didn't feel he needed anyone to be content with his existence. Perhaps that loneliness was reminiscent of her human self. Either way he felt oddly guilty about receiving praise for something he'd never done- nor ever tried to do.

Eliana looked about the small apartment. It was empty. There was no one there to talk to, not even Apollo. She sighed, setting down her bag. 'If I had known it would make this loneliness worse I probably wouldn't have suggested Apollo stay with him... it makes sense. Tsukino-san needs someone to keep an eye on him... But now I have no one to be with me.' She shook her head. "Dwelling helps no one," she told herself and then got out the newspaper she'd picked up, looking through the want ads to see if there was anyone hiring for something that she could do with her limited understand of current human society.


	8. Chapter 6

Next morning Eliana didn't bother to have him decide to walk with her, and instead stood outside him complex waiting for him when he came down in the morning. "Morning Tsukino-san." she greeted then grinned slightly. "And good morning to you Apollo. Sleep well?"

The cat had a rather grumpy look on his face this morning and he'd not bothered to wait around for Hajime in his apartment, instead waited out on the railing outside till he was ready to go. He'd been up most of the night trying to figure out the odd situation he'd faced the night before. His conclusion? He didn't understand humans and he was irritated with himself for starting to even consider thinking like one.

Hajime smiled slightly at Eliana.

"You can call me Hajime. You don't have to use the honorific or my last name. We're friends, right?" he asked. He patted Eliana on the shoulder. "Friends don't need to be so stiff and formal." He started the walk towards school and nodded to the pack he had slung over his shoulder. "You still on for studying tonight?" he asked. At that moment, a white cat came running up, panting, a golden crescent moon sparkling on his forehead.

"Sailor Sun! I've found Venus!" he shouted, and Hajime gave Eliana a look of shock.

Eliana flushed slightly, happy to hear he considered her a friend, as well as that he didn't mind her calling his name.

Apollo- finding a bit of injustice in the fact that Artemis had just run up talking and he had yet to be permitted to speak before the boy- pounced Artemis, though he didn't hold the slightly smaller white cat down for long. Just enough to land on him and then dignifiedly step off with a slight 'hmph.'

Eliana wasn't sure if she should scold Apollo or just leave him alone since he was in a bad mood anyway- so she decided to leave that to later. "Venus? Really?" She seemed perplexed. "I hadn't expected any of the usuals..." she murmured, then shook her head. "Where is she? Ah! Sorry Hajime. This is Artemis, he's... similar to Apollo." To Artemis she gave a warning 'NOT A WORD' look before introducing Hajime. "This is Hajime, possessor of the Silver Crystal."

Hajime crouched down to look at Artemis as the male cat did a little bow of sorts.

"It is good to meet you Prince," he said, and Hajime found himself close to laughter.

"And nice to meet you Artemis," Hajime said, holding out a hand to let Artemis put his paw in it, and then shook the cat's paw in a very dignified handshake sort of thing. "What's this about a Venus?" he asked, looking up at Eliana.

"The other Senshi, she is one of them. Though... you are the first male Gaurdian of the Moon and so I was not anticipating to meet any of the Senshi that had served previously," she commented, tracing her lower lip as she thought. "You go ahead to school. I'll go with Artemis and see Sailor Venus. Is she awake already?" she asked, directing her question to Artemis now.

Hajime nodded and continued on to school while Artemis and Apollo stayed behind with Eliana.

"No, not awake yet. I wanted to notify you before I woke her. She seems to be rather spoiled..." Artemis said, frowning in thought. "She's the daughter of a pop diva, and has been doted on all her life. I don't think she will take too well to being a Senshi of love and justice..."

"And of course that would the catch to getting one of the inner Senshi," Eliana muttered with a sigh. "Let's go ahead and go. I'll talk to her a bit before we try to wake her. Right now, we can't afford to put any negative energies near Hajime," she told him. "He only awakened yesterday and his power is unstable. I can't make any predictions about it as of now." she told him. "Apollo. Stay with Hajime please."

Apollo huffed. "Very well," he grumbled before trotting off after Hajime.

Mia looked up as the white cat came over towards her again, purring and rubbing up against her leg.

"Why can't you be a prettier kitty?" she pouted, images of ridiculously fluffy white cats without a bald spot on their forehead filling her mind. A woman walked up behind the cat, and Mia glared. "How dare you? Why are you trespassing upon my property?"

'You must be joking,' Eliana thought. 'I wouldn't normally consider such a girl for the position of Senshi. Her attitude it completely wrong. Is the universe TRYING to destroy itself?' she wondered but just smiled apologetically at the girl. "Sorry. I'm with the cat," she told her, stooping down to pick up Artemis. "I didn't mean to trespass. I suppose I just wasn't thinking. Intent on following Artemis and all," she laughed a bit nervously.

"Isn't Artemis a girl name?" Mia asked impishly, brushing her very light blonde hair out of her blue eyes. Standing, her long slender legs unfolded from beneath her, as she had been sitting on the ground, reading. Tucking her text reader into her bag, she crossed her arms. "And what's your name?" Mia's eyes narrowed as she looked Eliana over. In truth, she was jealous of Eliana's beauty, but would never admit it. "Following the cat? Why? He's not yours."

'And how would she know that? I should have asked Artemis HOW he found her,' she thought. "I'm Eliana. It's nice to meet you," she greeted with a smile, completely unaware of the jealousy the other girl was feeling. "As for why... I guess you could say he's sort of a friend of mine." She didn't address the 'girl's name comment' as she couldn't argue it. Artemis was the Greek Goddess of hunt and animals as well as a few other things they'd added. Like the protector of young women. "May I ask what your name is?"

Mia glared at Eliana for a few more moments, then gave a dainty little huff, as if giving her name was a chore and that she felt that she shouldn't even have to give it to a commoner.

"I'm Mia," she finally said. Holding a hand out for Artemis, she was surprised that he just meowed and cuddled closer to Eliana. "Well since he seems to like you better, I'll just have to ask you to leave." Her eyes sparkled with a suspicious wetness, but she did not give Eliana a chance to observe this. "If you don't leave now, I'll have the guards come and get you, since you are in fact, trespassing."

'Since he likes me better?' she thought, confused for a moment how him liking her more meant that she now had to leave. "Oh! Because you like him," she said her realization aloud without thinking. "Is he yours?" she asked. "Artemis... should I leave you here or run with you?" she asked under her breath so only the cat could hear her.

In answer, Artemis just smiled at her, and then jumped down, twining about the pale blonde girl's ankles as he meowed and started purring. Mia grinned and bent to pick him up.

"Well Artemis, I guess it is okay that you're around," she said. Turning to Eliana, she frowned again. "But you..." She felt like she was ugly in comparison to her. "You can come back later. I want to talk to you. But not right now." Mia turned her back on Eliana. "Leave."

"Um... alright. I'll come by after school then," she told her, giving a bow. "Have a good day Mia-san." She then turned and hurried back to the school. She'd have to postpone her plan to study with Hajime till after she talked to Mia again.

She got to class and of course was late. Thankfully she was still new and was able to use that to her advantage to get out of detention. She sighed, getting out her text reader. "Um... Hajime?" she whispered, glancing at the teacher before she looked back at him. "I'm going to be going somewhere after school. So I'll see you after for studying," she told him. "Sorry to have to change plans on you."

He smiled.

"No problem," he said. "It has to do with that Venus girl, right?" The question was innocent enough, as he didn't know what Eliana's experience had been with Mia.

She sighed. "Yes. I will fill you in on details when I have more to tell. For now... suffice it to say first impressions are not promising."

After school she headed back to the mansion she'd been at before, slipping through the main gate. She closed her eyes and focused on the energies around her. Finding Venus and Artemis was easy enough to do and so she made her way to them.

"Hello again Mia-san." she greeted, again giving the girl a smile.

Hajime nodded and went back to the school work.

Mia looked up at Eliana, forcing a slight smile.

"Hello Eliana-san. Glad that my guards could recognize you," she said. Artemis sat in her lap.

"Yes...um..." Eliana ran a hand though her bangs, bushing them from her eyes. "So, Mia-san. Was... there anything in particular you wanted to talk to me about?" she smiled down at Artemis. "You look rather content at the moment."

"I just gave him some tuna," Mia said, ignoring Eliana's question for the moment. After a short pause, she looked up, taking in Eliana's appearance and feeling that jealousy again. "Where are you from that you have such features? I've not seen anyone in Japan that looks even close to you."

"Oh, I'm from Rome," she told her. 'Of course I'm from Ancient Rome.. or what later became Rome at least.' she thought. "I only just moved here, so I'm still new to the area."

"Almost like a Goddess..." Mia murmured softly to herself. Realizing that she had spoken aloud, she shook her head. "Listen. I'm doing a modeling project and need a partner. You are perfect for it. It'll pay well too. Are you up for it?" It was evident from her tone of voice that she thought that Eliana wouldn't be able to handle it, and she seemed like she was a tad disdainful.

Eliana started to refuse, but then stopped, considering. 'Well I've never done anything like that... but if it pays well... I'd be able to pay for rent and food...' she bit her lip slightly and then smiled. "Yes. Thank you, that would be wonderful." She gave a smile. "When is it?" she asked. She'd see if she could manage any research before the actual job.

Mia smiled and stood.

"It's in two days. Be sure to be here or I might not ask you again," she said. Holding Artemis in her arms, she didn't extend a hand to Eliana in comradeship. It seemed as if she was used to getting her way, and thought that this was like everything else: Eliana agreeing to do what she wanted because of who she was.

'Maybe... I should have said no... but I need the money...' she thought. "What time do I need to be here?" she asked.

After she made her way to Hajime's apartment. "Sorry to make you wait." she told him with an apologetic smile. "Um... I'm going to try and get to know Mia-san, the Senshi of Venus. She's... difficult. I'm going to see if that's just first impressions or if she's really just like that?" she told him. "Artemis is staying with her for now."she pulled out her text reader. "I'll be going with her to a modeling job on saturday." she told him.

"Meet me here at about eight in the morning." This was all Mia said before she turned and walked away.

Hajime smiled.

"It's fine. Don't worry about being late." Hearing about her modeling job, he raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You've got the amazing looks for it, but I don't think you've the personality." When Eliana gave him a blank stare, he shook his head. "Most girls that I know who have been in that business either are mean to begin with, or become mean."

"Oh. That's odd..." She didn't understand why someone would get mean just for having a photo taken. Then something else registered and she tilted her head, giving him a curious look. "Amazing looks?" she asked. And then after a bit farther thought remembered that models were considered beautiful or at the very least pretty. She blushed. "Really? You think that I'm, pretty?" No one had told her that- not that she could remember. She didn't really remember much about her life before she became Sailor Sun- and she'd never been told she was pretty as Sailor Sun.

"Yes. You are quite beautiful," Hajime said matter of factly, looking back down at their math homework. "I'm thinking that Venus asked you along because she liked your looks."

Her blush grew and she heard a soft snort from behind her. Turning she saw Apollo watching her, his tail twitching with a slight smirk on his catty mouth. She sent him a glare before turning back to her text reader. A breathy 'Ah' was all she said about the matter before starting in on her homework. Her body was doing odd things. It must have been because she was not in her Senshi form. Her heart was beating faster than it should have and she had an uncomfortable fluttering happening in her stomach. 'When did I last eat?' she wondered, thinking perhaps she was faint from hunger again or something.

It was about seven thirty Saturday morning, and Mia found herself waiting with Artemis outside of her house. She had her hair up in a super stylish way, as the modeling shoot was based on mythical origins. She and Eliana would be dressed as goddesses.

Eliana had attempted to study modeling, but in the end she found that she wasn't going to be able to understand just from reading about it. She'd have to watch, listen, and rely on her senses to figure it out. She made her way to Mia-san's house with a simple white sundress with pale yellow trim, lace up sandals, and her long hair pulled back in a low ponytail as was her usual. She assumed that there would be people there to dress her out however they wanted, including her hair. "Good morning Mia-san." she greeted with a polite bow. "I hope you slept well last night."

"I slept fairly well," Mia said with a nod. She didn't ask about Eliana, not really thinking of it, as she had never extended courtesies to other people before. "Today, we are shooting some sort of mythology based thing. The photographer says that you'll be dressed as a sun goddess of some sort, and I will be dressed as the goddess of love, Venus." She threw a smirk in Eliana's direction. "I think that we're both well suited for our parts.

She was actually struggling not to start laughing. "Oh you have no idea," she murmured under her breath. "Yes, I think that it's almost fatefully suited," she agreed, a slight laugh conveyed in her tone. "I've never done this before so please take care of me." She gave another polite bow.

Mia scowled, looking away.

"You're too polite. They won't take you seriously."

"Eh?" she tilted her head. "Really? Hmmm..." She considered this. "I suppose if I just spoke more relaxed like when I'm with Hajime it would be alright... that shouldn't be considered rude," she mused, thinking aloud.

"Hajime?" Mia asked, leading Eliana towards the dressing rooms. "Who's that?" She sounded curious.

SInce she wasn't ready to have this girl awaken as Sailor Venus she decided to go with a more general answer. "He's my friend from school. I'm still adjusting to live here and he's been helping me out," she told her. Of course she was talking about life on Earth in general rather than just Crystal Tokyo, but of course, Mia didn't need to know about that right now. Same as she didn't need to know that he was the new Guardian of the Moon.

Mia nodded, and then opened the door to the fitting room. Two elegant looking Ancient Roman-style dresses greeted them, both distinct in color. The dress that Eliana would be wearing was a deep amber-gold color. It was shimmery and slightly sheer in some places. A tiara was settled on a stool next to it, gold glittering with amber jewels. A matching set of earrings, necklace, and bracelets were with the tiara, and a pair of straw sandals that laced partway up the calf sat underneath the stool. Mia's dress hung next to Eliana's dress, a deep rose color. On a still that was to the left of her dress, a set of gold jewelry set with rubies sat, the tiara a tad more extravagant than Eliana's tiara. The straw sandals that sat under the stool matched Eliana's.

"Wow..." Mia said, the word coming out breathy and appreciative. "They really went all out today..." She blinked, blushing, then grabbed her dress and went behind a changing screen to change into the deep rose dress.

Eliana raised her brow at the dresses. They were quite stunning. She saw Mia get her dress and so she did the same. Once her dress was on she tied her sandals on and then then started to put the jewelery on. 'Perhaps she doesn't have anyone do hair for us... oh well. I suppose... I braid my hair and coil it... or should I just leave it down?' she wondered playing with it a bit as she looked into the mirror. She thought for a moment about taking out her contacts... 'I could claim they are the contacts I suppose.. but... such a pale color...' she considered her eyes in the mirror as well.

"Here's some contacts," Mia said as she finished with her jewelry. "You put in yours while I fix your hair." Mia set to work with a brush, marveling at how soft Eliana's hair was. She proceeded to braid it, and start to pile it on the top of her head. Fixing the tiara into the soft curls, she nodded in satisfaction. "Perfect." She turned to another mirror and proceeded to put in her own contacts. Turning back to Eliana, her eyes looked to be a pale pink in color, rather than the original blue.

She opened her own contact case and couldn't help but smile. Her eyes would have been a little paler than these, however it would work quite well without them it seemed. She pulled out her own contact case while Mia was distracted and then pulled out her contacts, leaving her eyes their natural pale color. "So they are doing this photoshoot here at your house then?" she asked, admiring the work she'd done with her hair. "You're quite skilled," she compliment with a smile.

"You have very beautiful hair," Mia said in return, feeling slightly awkward about it. She'd never complimented anyone before. "Come on, let's get to the house. There's a set that the photographers have put together in the living room." Leading the way inside, she showed Eliana to the living room, which, although it had a very realistic looking Roman-esque column and palace set, also had the trappings of wealth: a black grand piano, crystal, silver, and gold in every corner. "Here we are."

"Thank you," she told her before following her out. She looked the room over. 'Wow... she's really a rich girl...' she thought, gently touching on of the pillars. She had a vague memory of such structures, but couldn't place when exactly she'd seen such a thing. If it had been Eliana that had seen it or Sailor Sun. She saw the photographers and then stood just behind Mia, waiting to follow her cue on what they were supposed to do. Both for greeting these people and for the shoot itself.

Before Mia could greet the photographers, an ungodly screech sounded from outside the window, just before a shattering of glass sounded, and something crashed through the set.

"Oh for the love of... What the hell?!" Mia shouted, stomping forward. The photographers did as well, until an inky black creature jumped up out of the mess, stalking towards them and screeching that screech again.

"Mia-san, Eliana-san!" one of the photographers shouted, picking up a thick metal pipe that protruded from one of the broken pillars. "Run!" Mia cast a terrified look at the creature and turned, running from the room.

Eliana muttered an oath under her breath. Shed have to take care of this thing before it killed someone! No one was paying her any mind and so she changed where she stood into Sailor Sun. But when she raised her staff to attack the creature she felt pain course through her as her body siezed. 'You must be joking?! I'm not allowed to attack?!' she thought, gasping as the pain that had driven her to her knees vanished. That really left her with only one choice. She looked behind her. Mia hadn't made it out of the room yet. Good. In an instant she was in front of Mia and held out her staff. Light enveloped them, leaving everything beyond the small sphere they were in to turn to dark shadows that seemed to stand still. "Mia-san I need you to listen to me. I can't hold this spell for very long." she told her. "I'm Sailor Sun, you meet me earlier as Eliana." she told her, her eyes serious. "You are Sailor Venus, a protector of this Universe. I don't have time to give you all the details now, and if you don't want that thing to kill those people or you then you need to do exactly as I say." She took a breath and murmured under her breath with her staff before her face. Light shimmered in front of her and then an orange pen with a heart shape on the top appeared and floated over to Mia. "Take this and call out 'Venus Power Make Up. Everything else should come to you naturally after that," she told her. Though she was a bit hesitant to believe that herself; so far the Universe seemed determined to no longer exist at this rate.

Mia gave Sailor Sun a terrified look.

"What?!" she shrieked. "You expect me to risk my life for people I don't even know?!" At that moment, something slammed against the orb, and Mia yelped, jumping up and grabbing the pen. "K, I'll do it..." she whimpered. Holding the pen above her head, she said the phrase that Sailor Sun had told her. "Venus Power Make Up!" she shouted. In an instant, she was dressed in something other than the deep rose dress that she had been wearing seconds earlier. An orange skirt with a lighter orange bow at the back, a white shirt with a blue bow on front, and an orange circular shape in the middle of the bow, an orange sailor flap, as if in a school uniform. A gold tiara with an amber jewel graced her forehead and a blue mask covered the top half of her face. Her elbow high gloves had orange accents at the top, and she was wearing a pair of laced up orange heels. "This is hideous!" she exclaimed, then flinched a bit under Sun's gaze. "Right... That doesn't matter right now..." she said quietly.

Sailor Sun sighed. "I will give you a greater explanation later. For right now- go and destroy the monster. If helps, you might want to do so before it completely destroys your house." she told her, the sphere dropping. 'If only I was permitted to fight... but the rules of my observance are still too strong. This is the most I can do for now,' she thought.

Words formed in Mia's mind as the sphere dropped, and after dodging a furious attack by the inky creature, she stood and faced it. Pointing a finger at it, she said the words.

"Crescent beam!" she shouted. A beam of golden light shot out from her finger, and hit the creature square in the gut. It screeched one last time before disappearing, and Mia let her transformation go. She was back in the deep rose dress, looking slightly disheveled.

Sailor Sun sighed and then closed her eyes, letting her own transformation go. 'Finally. something went right,' she thought. "Well I suppose the photo shoot is ruined now," she commented, smoothing out her gown. "And you and I will have to have a talk Mia. But we'll discuss this another time. For now, you must tell no one about it. Understand Sailor Venus?" she spoke quietly from right behind Mia so that no one else would hear.

Mia was shaking, slightly terrified about what had just happened.

"I understand..." she whispered, then turned, glaring at Eliana. "But what I don't understand is why you would come into my life and then subsequently ruin it! Why?! With your looks and your everything?! You're far more beautiful than I could ever hope to be, and with looks like that, you're bound to have boys hanging off of you, girls too! Why would you do this to me?!" With that, Mia ran from the room and up to her room, Artemis, who had heard the commotion and had run to the living room, giving Eliana a sad look before running upstairs. The photographers hadn't heard a word of the outburst, but had seen Mia run away from Eliana, and so assumed that Eliana had done something to upset their star. They gave her angry glares before turning to pick up the mess that had once been a beautiful set.

Eliana just looked very confused for the most part. Something... had just happened... but she didn't understand what... The outburst had not made any sense to her at all. She got that she'd just been told she was pretty again- this time even so far as beautiful. But... she's ruined her life somehow? And somehow her looks made it totally unreasonable... She tried to figure it out, but in the end decided it was the logic of a selfish little girl. She gave the camera crew a bow and ended upstairs. Finding Mia again was rather easy. She nodded on the door. "Mia. It's Eliana. May I come in?" she asked. "I'm sorry you feel that I ruined your life for some reason, but I didn't choose you. Honestly I'd have rather it not be you. But the universe chose you and there is nothing I can do about that. Nor is there anything you can do about it," she called through the door. She wasn't good at handling people like her.

Mia slowly opened the door, peeking out at Eliana.

"Sorry... Not used to everything being upset the way it has been..." she said. Her voice was subdued as she said this, and she opened her door wider to let Eliana in. "It's all very new and strange."

"I understand that. Believe me, you are not the first Senshi to be confused and don't think you'll be the last," she told her, stepping inside. "Well... where to start. I suppose for now I should find out how much awakening had called to your memory. Oh and Artemis. Would you mind helping with my explanation. She'll find out soon anyway and who knows. She might trust this more from you."

"Artemis?" Mia asked, confused. Artemis jumped up on the bed next to her and nodded.

"I am here to guide you in your growth as a Senshi," he said. Mia blinked, then shook her head. "After that inky black creature, I don't expect much to surprise me anymore..." Artemis started to jointly explain things along with Eliana, and Mia slowly began to understand.

Eliana sighed. "I am sorry that this has distressed you, but I'm afraid you really don't have a choice. But I'll give you some time to think this over. I can introduce you to Hajime later, after you've come to accept things better." In truth she just didn't want this girl's potentially negative energy mixing with the already negative energy that Hajime had displayed the day the iron beam nearly crushed them.

She got to her feet. "And I'm sorry the shoot was ruined. I was looking forward to it. It had seemed like it might be fun." She offered a small smile to the girl.

"You truly looked beautiful," Mia offered, motioning towards the disheveled but still wonderful shimmery golden dress. "Quite like your true self maybe? Were you ever considered a sun goddess? Ever?" Mia seemed to instinctively know that Eliana was older than her, much older.

Eliana thought for a moment. "I believe... at one point a Sun Goddess was created based off me.. but I myself have never been a Sun Goddess. I'm just an observer of this universe who tries to keep it from collapsing," she said. "You shouldn't sell yourself short. You look quite lovely in your own gown." She smiled. Perhaps... her selfish and petty attitude was something like a barrier that she wore. She might not be such a terrible choice as a Senshi after all.

Mia looked down at the deep rose dress that she still wore, and blushed.

"Really?" she asked. "I feel like I'm always trying to live up to my mother's impossible standards..." Immediately, her face grew clouded, and she seemed to grow childish and selfish once again. "I think it's best that you leave now maybe."

'Her mother,' Eliana realized. As soon as she mentioned her mother she went back to being the girl that Eliana felt could never been a true Senshi. "Very well. Artemis will know how to contact me if you need me," she said and headed back to the room where her clothes were. She decided to leave her hair as it was, since it was rather pretty and then went to Hajime, to let him know that while Sailor Venus had awakened she would not be joining them just yet. The Guardian of the Moon had always been the center of the groups, and so she tried to keep with that tradition.

Hajime nodded, the reached up and touched her hair.

"Well, whatever her faults, she really does know how to make women look even more beautiful." He smiled and then turned back to the English homework. "So, the teacher wants us to print off a handout from an elite American university, and then to translate it. It can be a page about anything. What do you want to print out? We can do the same thing and work on it together."

She started blushing again. "Y-yeah... you know... I'm really not use to people talking about me like that..." she told him, knowing her red face was rather obvious. "Um- assignment. Right. H-how about we look through some of the topics. Since we're both good at English it should be fine regardless of what we pick right?"

"Maybe we should do a page from the science part of the site. It would give us somewhat of a challenge," Hajime said, not noticing her red face.

Eliana agreed and with a task to focus on she called quickly. From the watching she had done, she had learned a few things about human interactions. And one was that often when a male was attracted to a female they often complimented her appearance. But Hajime didn't seem to think anything of it- so the thoughts that he might have interest in her were quickly dismissed. It would only complicate things so if was for the best anyway. She'd just have to get accustomed to him giving her such compliments and take them as statements of fact- which was how he seemed to mean them.


	9. Chapter 7

It was about a week and a half later, and Hajime and Eliana were working on an especially difficult math problem. The radio was playing softly in the background, strains of "Moonlight Densetsu" coming to the foreground as Hajime and Eliana talked about which things would work to solve it, and which things wouldn't. The afternoon was relaxed, with Apollo sitting on the couch beside the two, purring as he napped. It had been a little while since anything had happened, and so all three had let their guards down a bit. Eliana was quite frustrated as she was unsure of why she wasn't understanding this particular problem. How had math gotten ahead of her understanding? Vaguely aware of the song in the background, she smiled a little bit, knowing that this song had been popular for centuries. Her smile grew saddened though as she thought of the shattered locket that Serenity had given Dymion long ago, the song inside just a mellower version of "Moonlight Densetsu."

"What's wrong?" Hajime asked, reading her shift in mood. Eliana shook her head.

"Just reminiscing," she said, before turning back to the problem. In that moment, a creature streaked into the room, and Hajime shoved her out of the way before being slammed into the wall. His breath exploded from his chest, the creature being heavier than its speed belied. Fumbling, he twisted the ring on his finger, and in an instant, he was in the armor that he had been in when Eliana had given him the ring. The power of the transformation was enough to throw the creature back, but it now focused on Eliana. With a yell, Hajime reached out and grabbed it by the neck.

"By the power that has made me the Moon's Champion, I will smite you!" he hissed. Black power seeped from him, shadowed with power of silver light. Still holding onto the creature, he uttered two fateful words. "Moon's Revenge..." A sizzling sound was heard, along with the creature shrieking in fear and pain. Soon, the creature was a pile of ash, and with a motion of his hand, Hajime made the pile disappear in a silver flame. Running over to Eliana, he helped her up. "Are you okay?" he asked. In his worry, he had forgotten to go back to his normal clothing, and so his cape seemed to flow behind him as he came to a stop and crouch next to her.

Eliana had shifted into Sailor Sun the moment she realized they were under attack, but once again she found her power seized the moment she tried to help. Which turned out to be unnecessary. Hajime had things under control... or not...

She watched in horror as his power was displayed. That was not the power of the moon as it had been since time itself had started. When he helped her up she pulled away from him quickly without even thinking about it. She realized her mistake a moment later. She couldn't let him know something was wrong- not if she didn't know how to fix it yet. "Ah- um... yes I'm fine." she told him. "And you? Where you injured?" she asked, trying to act as if things were normal- though she was still very shaken by his display of power.

Hajime found that it had hurt him when she pulled away. Not physically, but in a different way. Hiding his frown, he looked down to twist his ring, the armor disappearing to reveal his school uniform once again.

"That's good," he said, and rose, going to the door, shutting it and turning back to her. "I wasn't injured at all. I just feel a little bruised." He rubbed his chest and smiled ruefully. "That thing, whatever it was, was heavier than it looked by its movements."

Metallia, sitting in the corridor, was shaken. What power! This descendant of the Moon just might erase her for good...

"Well I can't heal as the decedent of the Earth would be able to, but I can at least ease pain," Eliana told him, and held out her hand, resting it lightly on his chest. Her hand started to glow with soft golden light and equally soft warmth filled his chest, easing the pain he felt.

"I'm going to go check for any other disturbances," Apollo stated getting up and trotting to the door, the mark on his forehead glowed and the door swung up just enough for him to slip out. That had woken him from a very nice nap, and he wasn't about to go back to sleep until he was sure nothing else was going wrong elsewhere.

"You're power seemed to be coming to you with some ease... that's good," Eliana said with an uneasy smile. His power was wrong... and she found she worried about the prophecy much more now than she had before.

Hajime's eyes seemed to darken, as if the power was more than he could handle. Shaking his head, he put a hand on his forehead.

"Yeah..." he said absently. Resting a hand on hers, he smiled. "I think that we should turn in for the night. This math problem has given me a headache I think," he added, motioning to the homework that was still sitting on the table. After looking at her for a few moments longer, he went to the table and started to clean up. At that moment, a black cat with a crescent moon on her forehead ran through the slightly open door.

"Sailor Sun! I've found another Senshi!" she gasped, out of breath.

She flushed slightly when he covered her hand with his own, hers small and thin compared to his. Worry filled Eliana's face as he moved off "Um-! I could-" she started, not wanting to leave him alone with what had just happened. But just then the black cat ran in. "Luna!" Sailor Sun looked at the cat, and then over at Hajime. "Which one, and what was her personality like?" she asked, worried she'd have another Sailor Venus on her hands. Or worse.

Hajime looked up, curious.

"She's sweet and nice," Luna purred, rather happy that she had found her. "I think it's Sailor Earth." She realized that the impact of this revelation would be huge. Hajime stood.

"Should I go with you to meet her?" he asked, feeling that it was rather important.

'Thank the stars! Someone who fits the basic ideas!' she thought, relieved. "Yes, that's fine." she told him, smiling. If she was nice and Sailor Earth- it would be fine for him to meet her right?

Mikoto lounged on the couch in her apartments within the Crystal palace. She was bored out of her mind. Grandma had just finished with her for the day and she had nothing to do. Not only that but she'd been caught sneaking out again and so she was under guard to make sure she stayed put.

Luna walked in and meowed, twining around Mikoto's legs. She'd endeared herself to the girl earlier in the day, and was thus welcome. Hajime looked at the girl, rather surprised that this was the next Senshi, the Princess. She seemed to be bored as she reached down to pet Luna.

"The Princess is Sailor Earth? I highly doubt that her grandmother would be thrilled about this..." Hajime said, looking at Eliana. "Maybe we would be able to do without her?" He realized that Eliana was in the garb of Sailor Sun. "What...?" he asked, trailing off. In the palace, there was a standing rule, this rule having been handed down from when Karin was first instated as the Queen. The rule was that any woman who showed up that looked like Sailor Sun was to be admitted immediately. She did not have to visit with the Queen, nor did she have to specify the reason for her visit. She was merely to be admitted. Seeing the guards letting her in, Hajime followed, only allowed to do so when Eliana motioned at him.

"Oh, Karin's Great Granddaughter knows about me. They all do," she assured him. "About two centuries ago I did a bit more than observe and helped to gather the Senshi for Serenity." Her expression grew sad for a moment as she remember the state of the princess. "I always assumed that if the Crystal reappeared it do so within this family, and so did Karin. So she set things up for me so I'd be allowed in whenever I needed. Plus- as an observer I'm privileged to information that might need to be given to the Queen in a hurry."

They entered the Princess's room and Eliana gave her a bow. "Good evening Princess."

Mikoto was scratching Luna under her chin when the doors to her room opened. "Hey what-" she started, getting to her feet, and then she stopped, taking in Eliana's appearance. She let out a low whistle. "You're Sailor Sun aren't you? You look just like I'd been told you would," she stated, and then she grinned.

Eliana felt her heart sink. That was not a sweet grin. That was the grin she'd expect to see on a child that was full of mischief and an overabundance of self-assurance.

"I'm it aren't I? The new Sailor Earth."

'Universe. Why are you doing this to yourself?' she asked silently somehow holding back a whimpering sigh. "Yes, you are indeed," she answered. "This is Hajime, Guardian of the Moon," she introduced. "Hajime, Princess Mikoto, your Senshi of the Earth."

"His. I don't belong to ANYONE," Mikoto declared, a hand on her hip. She was in her own rooms. She didn't keep to keep up her pretense of the perfect and sweet princess.

Eliana wanted to cry. "I didn't mean that you did. I was just stating-"

"Stating what?"

Eliana sighed, her shoulders drooping a bit. She didn't need this kind of stress.

Hajime noticed Eliana's state and put a hand on her shoulder before turning to Mikoto.

"Princess, I think what Eliana is trying to say is that you are Sailor Earth to my Moon Guardian, and we must work together to help defeat Metallia," he said, holding a hand out to her, trying to smooth things over. "She really didn't mean that you belonged to me. No one does." His eyes darkened for a few seconds and he shook his head, and blinked, frowning a bit. Raising his hand to his head instead of waiting for the handshake he'd offered, his frown deepened. "My headache is getting worse," he muttered to Eliana.

Eliana had gone pale. As his eyes had darkened she'd felt a pull on her power as it fought to contain his own. She needed to get things over with quickly if she was going to do any work with him. In fact, going to Sanctuary with him would be best until she resettled his power. "Princess, I apologize, but I'll come back later to speak with you. Apollo!" she called out.

A spot of light shimmered near her and Apollo appeared. He took one look at Hajime and nodded. "I'll take care of this," he looked to the Princess. "Sailor Earth then. Fine. I'll assist in your awakening."

And that was all Hajime was present for. Eliana put a hand on his shoulder. "Close your eyes." she warned as light surrounded them. When it faded they were in Sanctuary. "Go ahead and sit down. I'll see if I can help with your headache," she told him, taking his hand to strengthen any weakening the ring of constraint she'd given him am had suffered. Once he was seated she put her hand to his head, stroking his hair gently that warm comfort once again soothing the pain. "Is that better?" she asked softly, still holding his hand lightly in the other hand.

Hajime had closed his eyes and a quiet sigh escaped him. The pain was going away, and the pleasant warmth that had helped his chest feel better was now going through his head. The instant that Hajime had first closed his eyes, images of destruction had passed behind his closed lids, and his hand hand tightened around Eliana's for an instant, but it was only for an instant.

"Much better, thank you," he said after a few more moments. His heart seemed at ease for the first time in years, and he felt that Eliana was the reason. "Better than I've felt in a long time..." he added softly, looking up at her.

She blushed ever so slightly and gave him a cutesy smile with a slight giggle. "I'm happy I could help." She could feel his power settling down again so she let her hand drop away from his head and gave his hand a final squeeze- she'd felt his hand tighten on hers as his power had given tug- before releasing his hand too. "Think you're ready to head back to your apartment? Or do you want to rest here a bit longer?"

"No one will miss me," Hajime said. "I'll stay here for a little bit. I feel more at ease here than at my apartment." He felt slightly saddened that she had let go of his hand, but she had appeared scared of him earlier for some reason, so he wasn't going to push anything.

Eliana continued to give him a soft smile. "Of course. Stay as long as you need then," she told him. She couldn't leave sanctuary and leave him her so she settled down beside him, closing her own eyes and leaning her head back against the shadowed wall they were resting against. She was observing what was happening with Sailor Earth, observing Mia- Sailor Venus, observing the Moon, observing the stars- the list of what she was checking on practically all at once was rather long, though she didn't focus on anything that didn't have anything of interest within it. It was only here in sanctuary she could do this. And she'd been away without checking for a while now. Despite whatever troubles she was seeing her expression was serene. She looked like she could simply have fallen asleep.

Up on the moon, all was still, the sad statues of all the dead standing among the burned ruined of the once beautiful palace. Down in the sanctuary, Hajime kept silent company with Eliana, quite liking to have her presence beside him. His headache had abated, and he was feeling well. Sighing, he looked over at her, then gently took her hand before scooting slightly closer and leaning back against the wall, closing his eyes.


	10. Chapter 8

After a bit Eliana reopened her pale eyes, feeling that things were well enough in the universe that she didn't have to keep watch. She glanced over and jumped slightly, startled to find that Hajime was a bit closer to her than he had been when she closed her eyes. Not only that- she realized with a blush- but he'd taken her hand at some point as well. "Hajime," she called softly. "We should get back to your apartment. You look pretty exhausted," she pointed out gently. Her hand was still in his as she wasn't entirely sure how to reclaim it- and she didn't really mind the contact.

"So do you," Hajime pointed out matter of factly. His own face was indeed rather pale, but only as a reminder of his power, and the toll it had taken on him. Opening his eyes, he looked at her. He had been slightly close to dozing off, but wasn't allowing himself to do so, feeling the need to watch of Eliana, the woman who watched the rest of the galaxy.

Eliana shook her head. She couldn't very well tell him she was so tired because she was fighting at the end of her restraints of interference to contain HIS power now could she? "Not as much as you do. I'd consider taking the day off from school tomorrow if you're not feeling better by morning." she told him. "Now close your eyes." When the light faded they were back in his apartment again. "I'll finish cleaning up. Why don't you go ahead and head to bed? I can let myself out," she suggested starting to her feet.

Hajime didn't let go of her hand, not letting her move.

"Stay here for the night. I can sleep on the couch and you can take the bed. You're too tired to be wandering around on your own after dark," he said. Realizing that he had forced her to stay seated, he let go of her hand, looking down. "You should probably take the day off from school too. You're pale as a sheet..."

Finding that he wasn't releasing her hand to let her up, she stopped trying, settling back down beside him. She considered his offer staying seated even after he released her hand. She was naturally pale anyway- so she was willing to concede that a bit of paleness probably made her look a lot worse off than she felt. She wasn't out of energy yet, and she'd wanted to go and see the Princess again once she'd gotten him settled. 'Well Apollo is handling things with her for the moment... and I don't want to leave him alone. I wouldn't be surprised if that power had scared him a bit. After all, Hajime isn't a dark person- even if his power is...' She gave him a smile, coming to a conclusion at last and letting her transformation fall away so she was also back in her uniform. "Well it's your house, I couldn't possibly steal your bed away," she told him. "I'm fine, really. Naturally pale skinned," she explained with a small shrug and chuckle. "But if it's alright with you, I'll go ahead and stay. You're the one I'm worried about. You're important so I want to make sure you're alright. I'd probably just end up worrying all night otherwise anyway."

Hajime nodded and got out some blankets and a pillow after pushing himself up off the floor.

"Here," he said, giving her the blankets and pillows. "Are you sure that you don't want to sleep in the bed?" He motioned to his room. "It's more comfortable than the couch."

"I'm sure," she told him with a smile. "I don't normally need to sleep so I'm a bit of an insomniac anyway." She set the blankets and pillows out. "Now go get some sleep. I promise, you need it more than I do," she told him, setting about to clean up the living room where they had been studying before.

In the morning when Hajime awoke, it was to an empty apartment save a cat that was curled up on the couch beside neatly folded blankets and the pillows.

Rubbing the back of his neck, he sighed, looking towards the door.

"She left before I woke up, didn't she Apollo?" he asked of the cat, and turned back to his room. His head still hurt slightly, and he hadn't slept well at all, various nightmares besieging his sleep. Going back into his room, he went to the bathroom to shower, sitting for a little while under the stream of hot water. After he was done, he walked out of his room, a towel wrapped around his waist as he dried his unruly red hair. His silver eyes widened when he saw that Eliana was in the kitchen.

Apollo just raised his head to look at him and then lowered it again without answering.

"Good morning Ha-" Eliana started, hearing his door open. As she caught sight of his state of dress however- or lack thereof- her normally pale complexion turned a bright shade of pink, he own pale eyes widening. At first she was too stunned to look away, but with a bit of a jerk she came back to her senses and quickly turned her back, still a darkening shade or red. "I-I'm sorry. I should have warned you I was here I suppose. I just ran out to get some eggs since you'd run out." she told him.

Remembering she'd been cooking she faced the stove again- still blushing. "Sorry..."

Apollo had moved up to the back of the couch and was now watching the two, a cat's grin on his curved mouth. That had been rather amusing to watch.

"Ah no, I'm sorry," Hajime heard himself say. He seemed to be in another world at the moment. Despite his age he was rather well muscled, not too much, but enough. "I thought you had left for the day." He paused on his way back into his room. "Thank you for the eggs." Shutting the door behind his back, he put his face in his free hand, wondering why he felt so flustered. Quickly getting dressed, he brushed his hair and his teeth, then went out to the kitchen again. "Sorry about that..." he muttered as he pulled out the plates.

"No problem," she chimed cheerfully. Once she heard the door to his room shut, however, Eliana pressed her palms to her burning cheeks. That had surprised her... not just that he'd walked out but that in the moment before she was called back to herself she'd been admiring the simple beauty of his physique. 'What is wrong with me?' she wondered.

By the time he came back out she was just finishing up with the last bits of breakfast and moving them to the little table. "It's not your fault," she assured him with a smile, her flustered confusion having been forcefully forgotten. She eyed him a moment. He still looked a bit worse for wear. "How did you sleep? Are you feeling any better?" she asked, wondering if he'd need another treatment. It served two purposes really. While it did help relieve pain he felt, it also helped strengthen her own power around his, making her better able to control the energy.

"I slept fine," Hajime lied smoothly. He didn't want her worrying. Taking a bite, he smiled. "The cooking lessons are paying off. This is fantastic!" he complimented her. A second later, he frowned, noting her worried expression. "Now, I know I'm not the only thing that you have to worry about," he said as he reached out to put his hand on top of hers. "What's wrong?"

"Well I had a good teacher," Eliana stated, pleased that he liked the food.

She had begun to get use to the casual compliments from him, as well as occasional casual touches. But usually he didn't take her hands. That had only started last night. She was distracted by the contact for a moment, feeling an odd sort of warm spreading from his hand into hers. She dismissed the sensation quickly to focus on his question. It wasn't like she could tell him. 'Your power is unstable and I worry that it's going to end up destroying the universe. Not only that I worry that even with my power as a buffer you won't be able to contain that power whenever you use it and that you'll end up burning out.' Yes, that was definitely something she would NOT be telling him any time soon. "Well for now you're the most important thing I need to worry about. You still look a bit... out of sorts- so I'm worried." she explained. "Does your head hurt again? Want me to help?"

"My head is fine." Hajime was a tad frustrated. She seemed to trust him, but not enough to tell him what was wrong. "In fact, I think I'm well enough to go to school. If we don't leave now, we might be late," he added, standing and putting his plate into the sink. "We can take care of the dishes when we get back. And if we need to stop at your place to get a uniform, then we can. I just don't think that sitting at home would be good for either of us. I have a feeling that we would go stir crazy." She did enjoy school so she agreed, getting up. "I don't have more than two uniforms anyway, so it's fine," she assured him. She still wore her uniform from yesterday though it didn't look like she slept in it. She'd heard the frustration in his voice- or at least she thought it was frustration- but she didn't see any way to include him. Telling him just seemed to her like it would ensure the prophecy came true.

Off to school they went, walking in relative silence.

Lost in his thoughts, Hajime seemed to weave around people with relative ease, though, the further he moved forward, the more his thoughts seemed to preoccupy him. Not many more people crossed their path on the way to school, but one girl ran straight in front of them, and Hajime ran in to her. Looking up, he caught her, keeping her from falling over.

"Sorry there," he commented, then let go of her as she tried frantically to be free of his grasp. Her hair, fading from white to red and half held up in a bun, was slightly mussed from her frantic efforts. Her tan skin seemed to be flushed with wariness.

"You have a dark aura Hajime Tsukino," she said coldly and hurried off to class. Hajime sighed and shook his head.

"I don't know why she's so angry with me all the time... We used to be friends," he observed to Eliana.

Eliana was watching him from the corner of her eye, and so she wasn't able to warn him fast enough before he ran into the other girl. She watched the girl struggle frantically to get away, feeling a sensation run over her as she looked at the girl. 'She's a Senshi as well,' she thought and felt something close to dread as the girl accused him of having a dark aura. 'So she has enough control already to feel that- or it was a born gift...' she thought. But it made things problematic. She was going to be struggling to get the other two discovered Senshi to be cooperative... and now it seemed a third had appeared and would also be giving her more things to worry about. 'How to talk to her...' she wondered just giving Hajime and absent minded 'Mmm.' to his statement. She then looked up to him. "What is her name?" she asked, then decided she should probably go ahead and tell him what she knew. He was to be the leader of the team. She was merely a pillar of support. "She's one of the Senshi."

"Well that will make things more interesting," Hajime commented dryly. He sighed. "Her name is Megan Kou. She lives nearby with her parents." Shrugging, he shook his head. "Not sure how you'll be able to approach her though. She's not very thrilled with me at the moment, as is painfully obvious." Noticing Eliana's semi-preoccupied state, Hajime put hands on both her shoulders and leaned down a little. "Hey. Don't worry. I'll do everything that I can to make this easier for you. Us. Everyone." He said it softly, with a smile. They were the only ones on the street, and so there was no one to see this. He felt this nearly uncontrollable desire to kiss Eliana then and there, but felt that it would be unfair to take advantage of her.

"That's sweet of you. I'm sure we'll figure something out," she told him giving him a warm smile like sunshine after a day of rain. 'His aura's not dark- it's just the shadow of his power,' she thought- mostly reassuring herself there was still hope the prophecy wouldn't come true. "I'll try just talking to her later today. See if I can clear up her misunderstanding," she told him- oblivious to any desires he had towards her.

That smile! Hajime felt his resolve crumbling, but at that instant, the school bell rang, which saved them both from any gestures that might make things uncomfortable between them. His silver eyes seemed to shadow more a dull grey as he turned away, but it was only for a second, and barely noticeable in the sunlight. Taking her hand, he ran with her into the school, and up to their classroom.

"Sorry we're late," he began to say, but the teacher wasn't in the classroom. "Hey, where's the teacher?" he asked in general, still holding Eliana's hand. He hadn't noticed this, and thus hadn't let go. One of the students looked up and noticed, but didn't say anything.

"The teacher's out sick, so we have kind of a free day," she said, and Hajime nodded.

"Thank you Layla." Turning, he looked at Eliana. "Well, we don't really have to stay here."

Eliana had watched couples before- but she didn't necessary observe their customs. So she didn't think much of him holding her hand before others. It was just a casual contact that he was giving her lately- not anything that she thought to terribly much of- just as she'd stopped thinking much of the compliments he gave her. It was just how he was.

"I see... well, we could take the chance to finish our homework at least. See if we can make any progress on that problem," she pointed out, taking her hand back form him to pull her text reader. "I want to try and catch Megan-san during one of the breaks," she whispered quietly, leaning in slightly so her whisper would be for his ears alone.

Hajime nodded and went to sit in the back of the classroom. He knew what was happening now. He was starting to like her. Sighing quietly to himself, he shook his head. This was impossible. It had been what, three weeks since he had met her? And now he was starting to like a woman who could quite possibly be as old as time itself, and most likely never be able to stay with someone like him. His silver eyes darkened to grey again, but he was looking at his reader, not anywhere else. In Hajime's mind, the image of Serenity and Dymion trapped in the crystal forced its way to the front of his thoughts and he put the reader down. Rubbing his temples, he looked over at Eliana. They were finding Senshi much faster now, which made him wary. Was whatever was going to happen going to happen soon? Or would there be more of the creatures? As if to answer his question, screams sounded below. Casting a glance at Eliana, he motioned to the door before leaving the classroom. Students and teachers were running through the hallways, running from several different inky black creatures, similar to the one that he had dispatched from his room only the day before. A familiar face appeared, and was soon quite close to him. Megan came to a stop, and turned to Hajime, her flame colored eyes seething.

"This is your fault!" she hissed, and shrieked in protest when Hajime grabbed her wrist.

"Megan, I am very sorry, but we need to talk to you, and quickly," he said, taking Eliana's hand and dragging them both into an empty classroom nearby. Twisting the ring on his finger once he was sure that Megan wouldn't run, he was once again in his armor. Motioning to himself, and then to Eliana, who had transformed into Sailor Sun, he helplessly searched for the words that he would need to explain it to Megan. She seemed to have some sort of understanding in her eyes.

"Senshi. She's Sailor Sun," Megan said quietly, then frowned. "But what are you supposed to be guardian of?"

"The Moon," Hajime said simply, and Megan shook her head.

"But Queen Serenity should be protecting the Moon. At least, that's what my father says," she protested.

Eliana was already moving when he motioned for the door. She could feel the creatures- but was a bit confused. As before she hadn't been able to feel them at all until they were already on the move. She wanted to protest when Megan accused Hajime- but she couldn't in all honesty. It was because he was here, just not for the reasons she thought.

Seeing that the girl already knew about Senshi she was relieved. She didn't need to waste time trying to explain as she had with Sailor Venus. "Queen Serenity hasn't been able to protect the Moon since it was destroyed again two hundred years ago. Hajime is the new bearer of the Silver Crystal." She held out her staff, searching through the girl's energy and a pen appeared before her. "You are a Kinmokuan- Sailor Starfire." Eliana looked back towards the door. "Hajime, we'll let her deal with this at first if that's alright. I want to see what her ability will be. We'll offer assistance should she need it but those monsters aren't quite as powerful as the one from before so it should be alright." she silently added, 'Plus I don't want you using your power again so soon. It's still far too unstable to try and use.' Her attention returned to Megan. "As a Kinmokuan descendant- I assume you already know how to activate your power."

Megan nodded. As the pen hit her hand, it transformed into a microphone, one that was part of a earbud. It had a star shaped brass cover that covered her ear with the microphone extending to end just at her mouth.

"Sailor Starfire, Make Up!" she said, her hand on the earpiece. A fiery light surrounded her, and in an instant, she was in her Senshi fuku. It was entirely made of deep red leather, a pair of shorts and a skimpy top. The boots as well, which came up to mid-thigh, and her gloves, which came up to the middle of her biceps. A circlet of brass with a brass star in the middle accented her forehead, while a brass star with white wings served as the broach upon her chest. Two strings crossed her belly, a brass star holding them in place, and a red cape flowed from her shoulders.

"Well that is much different from your outfit," Hajime said to Eliana, his face a bit red. Megan huffed and stalked out of the room, her cape swirling about her feet.

"I didn't ask for it," she muttered, her hand held out in front of her as a creature came close. A star formed in her hand, only visible to those who really looked, and the words came unbidden to her mind. "Star Purifying Flames!" she shouted, and a whirl of bright blue flame erupted from the star in her hand, incinerating the creatures in front of her.

"Look out!" Hajime shouted, and his sword was out of the sheath at his hip, slashing through another creature that had snuck up behind them, charging at Eliana. Megan was doing just fine on her own.

Eliana forced back a chuckle. It was how the Sailor Star outfits looked for whatever reason. She noted the ability- finding it similar to that of Sailor Mars- odd but a welcomed sign as it was in some way back to normalcy. When she saw the beast come at them from behind she tried to force her power out to prevent Hajime from using his. But with a gasp that would have been a cry had her breath not been stolen she dropped to her knees trembling. She was still not permitted to fight. And it seemed that if she tried to break through the will of the universe she was just going to have her power recoil. Her body had faint sparks running over it as light flared in small areas all around her. If this kept up she'd only be a hindrance in battle.

'Why am I permitted to interact with them so freely- to put my power into and use it for Hajime's power, but I'm not permitted to use it for actual battle?' she wondered, her breath finally returning to her and the flashing sparks fading away. The beasts were gone now. She couldn't feel them anymore, so she could only hope that meant there would be no more attacks today.

Hajime turned to Eliana in time to see the sparks fading away.

"Eliana, are you okay?" he asked worriedly. Hearing the worry in his voice, Megan turned. He looked like a real prince kneeling there next to Sailor Sun. She sighed and let her fuku go, staying there by the two.

"You know, this is the first time I've heard you worry about anyone since your parents died Hajime," she said after a few moments. Hajime looked up, his silver eyes slightly dark. Megan took a step back, utterly caught off guard. This wasn't him, this dark persona. She knew that, but couldn't help but feel that the darkness was taking him slowly. His eyes changed back though, and he looked even more worried.

"Are you okay Megan?" he asked, but turned back to Eliana when Megan nodded. "Eliana, you aren't hurt, are you?" In his head he was trying to fight down the panic. Those sparks hadn't looked very good.


	11. Chapter 9

She had been struggling with her own waves of pain and weakness and hadn't seen his eyes, but she could feel his power pushing at her own. She found his hand and twisted his ring so his Armor dropped away, then released her own Fuku. "I'll be alright," she finally managed weakly. "And you're wrong," she informed Megan. "Hajime worries about people all the time. It's why he avoided people recently. Metallia had been targeting him, but the people around him just kept getting hurt." She wanted to talk to the girl more about the darkness she saw in him, but she wouldn't do it with Hajime present. "I'm sorry. I wasn't able to do anything to help once again," she apologized, looking up at Hajime for a second before she looked quickly down the hallway where voices could be heard approaching. "Let's hurry and get out of here," she said, getting to her feet, only to have her head give her sickening and painful spinning sensation that caused her knees to get out. Trying to force her power had been a very very bad idea.

Catching her, Hajime looked at Megan.

"I'm taking her home." Megan nodded and watched as Hajime carried her out of the school and quickly moved towards his own apartment. Shaking her head, she quickly vacated the area as well, knowing that the damage from the fire was her fault, and not wanting to be there when the damage was found.

Once at his apartment, Hajime opened the door without dropping Eliana. Going to his room, he laid her on the bed and then went out to the kitchen to get a cool compress.

"What happened to her?!" Apollo hissed acidly.

"I don't know. There were some of those creatures at the school, and we had found another Senshi..." Hajime trailed off and gave Apollo a helpless look. "One of them charged her, but I thought that I had killed it before it got her. All I did was use my sword. It happened so fast that I didn't think to use my power." Apollo jumped off the couch and ran into the room to where Eliana laid, Hajime following closely behind. "Please be okay Eliana..." he murmured, putting the cold compress on her forehead. His own head was starting to ache, but he forced that sensation to the side, more worried for his friend, this woman he was beginning to like, and wanting to make sure that she wasn't a victim to his curse as well.

She'd spent the time he carried her back to the apartment trying to lessen the damage of the recoil, so she didn't complain or even speak for that matter, just lay practically limp in his arms with her eyes closed.

She remained that way even after he laid her down on the bed.

"What have you done?" Apollo demanded hopping up onto the bed. He could tell that the boy's power was fighting against the layer of her own power she'd placed on him but if he hadn't used his power- and if he was still in control that she shouldn't be like this because of him.

'I had a recoil,' she told him in thought. 'Lend me some energy would you? I have trouble using my power on myself.'

Apollo gave a soft meow and then began to kneed her shoulder, his power flowing into hers to help quell the disorder of her own. She felt something cool on her forehead which helped even more. She opened her eyes- her contacts had been burned out the day before from her transformation. She'd planned to say her natural eyes were contacts from now on after that. It was too difficult to constantly be struggling with those things.- and saw Hajime's worried face. "I'm sorry," she said, sitting up slowly. She felt a bit better. "It seems I'm still not permitted as much interference as I would like. I attempted to force my power to help with the fighting and- well- the universe denied me," she told him with a slight, unhappy smile. She reached out with both her hands, cupping his face. Warmth spilled from her hands, easing the pain of his headache. "I'm sorry. I ended up being a burden there. I'll try to stay out of the fights from now on so I don't get in the way," she promised. From how his power was pushing on the constraint she'd placed on him, she could only imagine the headache he must have had from it.

Holding onto her hands, Hajime let his eyes close, but they opened when there was a knock at the door. He reluctantly let go and pushed Eliana's hands away as he went to go answer the door. Apollo watched him and shook his head. It wouldn't do any good. Eliana was off limits as far as matters of the heart were concerned. Opening the door, Hajime blinked in surprise to see Megan there.

"Megan?" he asked, and then blinked again as she shoved past him.

"They closed the school because of the damage from the fire." She pointed at herself and then shook her head. "I came over to see how Eliana is doing. You go make something for her to eat. She must be out of energy by now." Dumbfounded, Hajime just nodded and went to the kitchen, pulling out various ingredients. Megan found her way to Hajime's room, which wasn't very hard, and knocked on the door.

Inside the room, Eliana was looking at the wall next to the door. All the pictures of Serenity had been taken down, save two. One was the picture she'd first seen Hajime draw, where Serenity looked downtrodden and heartbroken, crying and reaching out for something. The second was Serenity as they had seen her on the moon, happy, but in a bittersweet sort of way. It was almost as if the smile was warning of something, something that could be both good and bad. The images were drawn so lifelike that Eliana felt tears sting her eyes for the first time since she'd first witnessed the moon's destruction, seen Serenity and Dymion trapped as their infant daughter perished.

"Oh Serenity, how I miss you, my first and dearest friend..." she whispered. Apollo chose not to comment, but his ears tilted towards the door when he heard the knock. Eliana quickly dried her eyes, and called out that whoever it was should come in. "Oh! I thought it was Hajime!" she gasped, seeing Megan. Megan smiled and sat on the bed beside Eliana.

"I came to see how you were doing, and to talk to you." Megan took a deep breath, closing her eyes. "I know that Hajime is good." Seeing Eliana's look of surprise, she went on. "I can feel two auras within him: one of utter darkness and ultimate vengeance, and one of pure good and honest forgiveness. The second is he himself. The first..." Megan trailed off, trying to find the words. "The first is something that is of him, but before him. It is as if it is something that seeks to be him, seeks to consume him to make its own ends become real." Megan shook her head. "I have no other way to describe it." Sighing, she turned and saw the two pictures of Serenity. Eliana had been busy trying to decipher her words when she started to speak again. "So that is the Queen... My father always described her as one of supreme beauty, but also amazing humbleness. A woman above all women, who could make all others jealous." She smiled. "My mother always was jealous of the admiration that Serenity had."

"Your father and mother speak as if they knew Serenity in their lifetimes," Eliana said doubtfully.

"My father hails from the moon, while my mother hails from Kinmoku. They moved to Earth some time ago, and had me about fifteen years ago. I turn sixteen in a few days. Kinmokuans and Lunarians are both long lived races, so I can understand how they would possibly know her," she said. Looking up at the pictures again, she shook her head. "I wish I could have met her..." At that moment, Hajime came into the room with a bowl of soup for each of them, and he sat in a chair near the bed. "Thank you," Megan said, causing Hajime to shake his head in confusion.

"You're welcome," he said, seeing no need to wave it off. It might only serve to upset her. Eliana accepted the soup as well with a thank you, but it just sat in her lap untouched. The pain was subsiding, her power stabilizing again. However she felt she had no appetite. She was preoccupied with how Megan had described his power. The ultimate vengeance. 'I assumed it was a force somewhat outside that of the crystal trying to influence its power... however, what if the crystal's power is what has become corrupt? How would we combat that? The Silver Crystal is supposed to be the light of the universe... Are we supposed to destroy it? Wouldn't that destroy the universe? But... I don't think we could just leave his power to break free either... what am I supposed to do?' she wondered giving a heavy sigh.

Hajime looked up at Eliana's sigh.

"Eliana?" he asked. Megan was looking at her too. "What's wrong?" Megan had a concerned look on her face as she realized that Eliana hadn't touched the food except to take the bowl. Hajime hadn't realized this, which was fortunate. He would have been even more worried, and with the way his auras were pulsing and fighting against each other, it seemed that that was the seat of Eliana's worry. His head must have been killing him. Megan finished her soup quickly, and stood, much to Hajime's bewilderment.

"Well Eliana, I can see that you are doing fine," she said and started out of the room. Hajime followed her, to let her out.

"Um. Thanks for coming over to check on her," he said uncertainly, and Megan smiled.

"No problem. I enjoyed meeting a new friend, and I wanted to make sure she was okay. You take care of her Hajime," she added before leaving and closing the door behind her. Hajime nodded and took his empty bowl, along with Megan's, to the kitchen before returning to his room to see if Eliana had finished.

She had set the bowl aside by now and was rubbing her temples, both trying to think and to fight the awareness of his powers struggle. She needed to get his energy to calm down again. Perhaps if she could just calm him it would at least help. When he came back in she looked up and smiled. "We got interrupted before. Come here," she instructed gently, holding her hands out for him. Yes she would settle his power first and then worry about what to do. For now that was something she could actually do something about right now.

Hajime nodded, sitting in front of her, and closing his eyes as he felt her hands on his temples. Sighing slightly, he felt his headache abate, and after a few moments, opened his eyes, looking at her. His hands reached up to take her hands, and, unable to control himself, he leaned forward a bit, wanting so badly to kiss her.

"Eliana.." he said softly, not entirely sure why. He couldn't think of any reason why he said her name, knowing that he didn't have anything to say to her, or to ask her. All he knew is that he wanted to kiss her, and seemed unable to stop himself this time.

When he took her hands, Eliana figured it was just because having her hands there felt good. He'd taken them before when she'd been settling the pain he felt. But he started leaning in to which she found a bit odd but not alarming. He whispered her name, and for some reason it sent a shiver down her spine. She met his silver eyes with her golden ones, open and pure. "Hajime-?" she answered in response to him calling her name. He just kept leaning in, getting closer and closer until their breath mingled, lips almost touching.

"AHEM!" Apollo jumped onto the bed, staring at the two.

Hajime drew back, cursing silently in his head.

"Hello Apollo," he said and stood, turning to leave the room. "I'll leave so that you can rest up, okay Eliana?" he asked. Closing the door behind him, he sighed, running a hand over his face. His headache was better. At least he should be grateful for that. Sighing again, he shook his head and went to sit on the couch. He should have known that the cat would have interrupted. Sitting there, he soon fell asleep, and started to have nightmares...

_"Hajime!" The voice that called his name echoed across the landscape. The landscape resembled the ruins of the moon. Hajime turned and found himself looking at himself. Only the him that he was seeing was wrong. His eyes were black, and his red hair was darker as well. _

_"Who... Who are you?" he asked. _

_"I am you Hajime, but you as you could be if you would just let your power free!" the darker him said. "Vengeance will be ours! We will avenge the wrongs done to the moon in so many eons past!" Hajime took a step back, but the darker him mirrored him and took a step forward. "Hajime, we can avenge the wrong done to them!" The darker him pointed at the crystalline prison that held Serenity and Dymion. Hajime looked, feeling rather intimidated. _

_"Why would I want to seek vengeance? The moon is supposed to symbolize love and forgiveness," Hajime answered his dark clone's glare. _

_"Weak! That is weak!" the dark him hissed. "Only through vengeance will we truly be left alone! We must seek vengeance!" _

_"No. I won't," Hajime said, his head starting to throb. "I can't! I will not use vengeance as a means to survive. Never!" The dark him seemed to vanish, going inside of him, and Hajime was left alone in the barren landscape. The pain in his head intensified, and he fell to his knees, a yell of pain escaping him as his hands went to his temples. The landscape faded, and all that remained was him and his pain._

On the couch, Hajime let out a yelp as the pain in his head reached a crescendo, as it did in his dream.

Eliana watched him go, stilling filling a bit confused. Why had he leaned in like that? But nothing had happened and wondering over that was the least of her problems. She lay down, deciding arguing with him about the bed was going to be pointless. She closed her eyes, deciding to try and get some sleep herself.

And then she jerked awake. His power was surging, she could feel it pressing against the constraint she'd placed on him. But she didn't feel anything else. Just him and Apollo. She quickly got out of the bed and hurried into the living room where Hajime lay on the couch, sleeping troubled. "Hajime," she called softly, watching as his power continued to push and contort inside him. And then he cried out. Eliana felt panic grip her as the surging of his power began to break through her constraints. "HAJIME!" she cried, rushing around the couch. She transformed into Sailor Sun and placed on hand over his heart, the other on his head. She then began to pour her power into him, relieving the pain he felt and thickening the constraints, forcing his power to settle again. 'I shouldn't have let him leave without fully settling him again,' she berated silently. "Hajime wake up!" she called, hoping consciousness would help.

Hajime awoke with a gasp, his hands immediately going to her wrists. His eyes were wide, one completely black, the other shining silver. Blinking and shaking his head, trying to get rid of the weight on it, both of his eyes turned back to their original silver color. Realizing that it was Eliana, he let out a choked sob and pulled her close. She fit comfortably against him, but he wasn't interested in anything but the physical contact right then.

"I'm sorry..." he whispered, the tears starting to flow.

The mismatched eyes startled her- as did him suddenly pulling her to him. She went stiff for a moment and then hugged him, continuing to power her power into it. "Shhhh, it's alright. I'm here," she told him softly. "It'll be alright Hajime." She really wasn't sure it would be however.

Eliana continued to hug him, her power flowing into him constantly until she felt his power settle back down at last. By then she was feeling exhausted. She'd have to return to sanctuary for a time and try to recuperate her power. But she wasn't sure how long she'd be able to keep up holding back his own. It was getting stronger so very quickly.

Hajime had slowly fallen asleep, holding Eliana, his face buried in her soft hair. Apollo jumped up onto the couch and glared at the boy, then looked at Eliana.

"How in the world did you manage to end up like this?" he asked, the iciness in his voice ill-disguised. Hajime's dreams were still troubled, but not as before. He held Eliana close, as if to lose her were to be his demise. Instinctively, he knew that he was a monster, something to be feared. In his sleep, he ran from himself down dark hallways. Always, he dreamed of Eliana's light keeping him from becoming the darkness that he feared so deeply.

Eliana glared at him. "He's troubled, and what was I supposed to do? Just let his power run rampant. I think-" she paused a moment, her voice growing sad. "I think his power scared him..." Looking back at her ill-tempered friend she added. "Take that icy glare of yours elsewhere. I don't want you upsetting him. You're supposed to remain here as extra insurance against his power and anything that attacks, but I need you to trust him as I am."

"But you're not trusting him. You won't tell him the truth of the situation because you feel what will happen."

"That doesn't mean I don't trust him."

"You don't trust him to be able to handle it."

She felt silent, thinking his words over. Perhaps he was right... perhaps she needed to tell him a bit more... 'I can at least tell him about the darkness of his power. It might even help him keep it in control if he knows- which will make my controlling it easier...' She attempted to move away after lying him back down with care, but his arms just tightened around her, refusing to release her. "Eh?" she tried again, and he stirred, his expression becoming troubled, almost pained.

After that she just laid down beside him on the couch. It was a snug fit with them both on it, so she was forced to press close to him. She allowed her fuku to fall away and, exhausted from her efforts to control his power, fell into deep sleep herself.

At some point in the night he'd rolled, taking her with him so she was no longer beside him but halfway atop him.


	12. Chapter 10

The next morning, at around ten, Hajime slowly woke. He felt the presence of someone close to him, and opened his eyes to find that Eliana was there, halfway on top of him. Blinking in surprise, barely remembering pulling her close to him the night before, he went to move, but realized that she wasn't stirring. Thinking that she was just exhausted, he picked her up and laid her on the couch. Going to his room, he showered and got dressed, then went and picked up Eliana, taking her to his room and laying her on the bed. Apollo had followed him around for most of the morning, and now, after closing the door to his bedroom, Hajime turned to the cat.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Apollo had been glaring at him, or at least it felt like it.

Apollo huffed a bit and looked away from him. "It's not my place to say. Eliana will have to decide if she wanted to tell you when she finally comes to again," he answered, getting up and pacing the couch back for a moment before lying back down. He was well aware she wouldn't be waking any time soon- which meant it would be up to him to keep an eye on Hajime. 'At least Sailor Starfire knows how to use her power, and she'd good at sensing things. So if things go bad she should be able to handle it without it... can't rely on Venus just yet, and I don't even know when Earth will be able to get ungrounded again...' He sighed, things were not going well. "Hajime, I'll say this. If you can help it at all, do not evoke your power again until Eliana wakes up."

"I won't if I can help it," Hajime said with a shiver, vividly remembering the dream he'd had the night before. His tone was sincere.

A few days later, Hajime was out getting some groceries, and Apollo was with him. There was no one in the apartment. There had been a couple attacks, but Sailor Starfire had been able to help out and take care of them.

"Eliana's going to be super hungry when she wakes," Hajime said. "I should make her something to eat when we get back."

Apollo nodded. He could feel that her power was finally back to normal, and had told Hajime she should be waking up soon.

Eliana woke, feeling heavy and stiff. She sat up with a groan. "I knew I should have gone back to sanctuary to recharge," she muttered. She stumbled to her feet and then out into the apartment- but there was no one there. It was empty. She closed her eyes, but she couldn't feel anyone close by either. "Maybe... school?" she murmured, having no idea what day it was or what time it was for that matter. She tried to stretch out, but found that despite her return of energy she felt weak and slightly sick; it was similar to how she felt when waking up after passing out from hunger. She raided the fridge, snagging some left over rice and brewed some tea.

She only got a few bits before she found she was face to face with not one but two of the shadow beasts. She quickly transformed, blocking the first attack to an extent with her staff, slamming into the wall of the kitchen, sharp pain in her shoulder from where a claw had caught her, smearing blood on the way behind her as things clattering to the floor. She attempted to use her power, but as always, she was unable to use it in combat. "OH COME ON! I'm by myself right now! Can't you cut me a little slack?!" she demanded of the universe. It, of course, didn't answer her. She did the only thing she could at the moment, and vanished. It was short range teleportation. She couldn't try to return to sanctuary with that beast so close to her. Of course there were two of them and no sooner did she reappear in the living room then did the other launch itself at her, she dove out of the way getting more blood on the carpet. She could hear the first one scrambling to get out of the kitchen, causing a lot of damage as it went while the second came for another attack, slamming into the couch and tipping it over. Its long claws cutting gashes into the fabric. Eliana felt something shift. It was slight but she'd felt it. She raised her staff with a whirl and then slammed it down into the ground. A pulse of light swept from her, making the shadow beasts vanish as shadows would before the midday sun. The pulse was felt by anyone with senses for about a mile all around.

It seemed the Universe had decided to cut her the requested slack, but she dropped to her knees, gripped with pain. It had done so at a price. She mustered up her power and then transported herself to Sanctuary to recover there.

Apollo's head shot up as he felt the pulse reach them. She shouldn't have been able to use that ability here-

Hajime, of course, hadn't felt the pulse. He walked back to the apartment, thinking about what he would make Eliana, wanting to apologize for making her use so much power. Unlocking the door and stepping in, he let the groceries crashed to the ground. There was blood on the floor. It was smeared across the walls in several places as well. The couch had been overturned, and there was a mess in the kitchen. The only other person that had been here when he and Apollo left had been Eliana. Racing to his room, Hajime prayed to whatever god there was that Eliana was still there. She wasn't. Feeling a crushing blow, Hajime turned. A hand was on his head as he struggled against the darker self that he'd come to know was there, he used the other to right the couch. It was a strength that he'd never had before. Opening his eyes so that he could focus on picking up the groceries, Apollo could see that one eye had turned pure black from the original silver, and the other eye was well on its way. His hair had seemed to grow darker as well, and tendrils of dark power seemed to grow from him. He was eerily silent, not wanting to trust his voice. He was still struggling against the dark power, the headache building as he did so, his hands shaking as he picked up the shattered glass of a jar of jelly.

Apollo searched the place too; there was no sign of her. 'Good, she probably made it back to sanctuary then,' he thought, and then his hissed, his back arching as he felt Hajime's power starting to leak out and saw the physical change it had caused. Eliana wasn't here to stop it, so he would have to. With a roar that should not have come from such a small cat he leapt into the air towards Hajime- only he did not stay little, as he got closer he started to shift, growing larger to be the size of a lion with wings sprouting from his back. He collided with Hajime, pinning him down. "Stay calm!" he ordered, his voice now much deeper. His body began to glow and the light flowed from him cocooning Hajime. It was containing the power, keeping it from doing anything else. But he could not calm it as Eliana could.

"Trying," Hajime said, his voice coming out as a hoarse rasp. "It hurts." Both of his hands went to his head, covering his eyes. A dark and bitter laugh escaped him, but Hajime bit his lip, growling as he tried to keep himself from succumbing anymore. "She must... be safe if... you aren't... going nuts." A grunt escaped him then too, and his breath began to come in short gasps. "The pain..." A hoarse scream echoed from within the cocoon of light, and Hajime began to thrash a bit. "I will not!" A blinding white light overcame everything, and Hajime was suddenly silent, his breathing normal. The cocoon had dispersed, and he lay there, as if sleeping. A ghostly woman stood over him, her expression sad. Turning to Apollo, she motioned to Hajime, as if to say that he should care for the young man. Her hair and eyes were instantly recognizable, her posture that of a queen. The hair, white and fading to a dark blue, went down to her ankles, not held up in her traditional buns. The dress she wore of the same color scheme went slightly sheer at the bottom.

"Apollo... My power is keeping him at bay for the moment. There is only so much that I can do in this state," she said. Her voice echoed eerily in his head, not audible outside in the room. "The Crystal has become corrupt. Many long millennia of the moon being utterly destroyed has made the Crystal gain a life of its own, one that searches for vengeance." Her expression as she looked back at Hajime was sad; almost as if she knew he would succumb and perish. "He is a strong young man... But the dark power of the corrupt Crystal is too much even for him." She looked at Apollo, her eyes piercing. "The feelings that he has for Sun are the only things keeping him alive. This whole incident was triggered by the fact that he thought something had happened to her to either kill or dreadfully injure her." Shaking her head, Serenity closed her eyes and began to slowly fade away. "Take care of them both Apollo... The universe's future is uncertain anymore... Even Pluto would be unable to tell you what will be..." With that, she was gone. Hajime still lay unconscious upon the ground, his hair still looking dark as it faded slowly back to its original lighter red. Apollo bowed his head to the Queen as she faded, shifting off the boy. He was still now, but Apollo stayed as he was- his true form- and lay down next to him. 'His feelings for Sun are the only things keeping him alive.' Apollo heard her words repeat in his head. That was... unfortunate. Sailor Sun lived outside the Universe even more than Pluto despite her strong connection to it. How could those feelings ever amount to anything?

Sailor Sun felt the tugging of Hajime's power once again going out of control. But she wasn't yet able to return, still paying the price of using her ability. She stayed in Sanctuary for what would have been days but was mere minutes to the world as she changed it's time flow at her will. Once she was able to move freely again she returned to the apartment where Apollo filled her in- leaving out the bit about Hajime's affection for her. Eliana sighed, feeling horribly sad. It was unfair for this to happen to him. Hajime was what a bearer of the Silver Crystal should be, and yet the Crystal was what the problem was. Still, the future was uncertain, which meant that there was still hope to be had. Kneeling down, Eliana pulled Hajime up, letting him rest his head on her lap. She repaired the damages done to her barrier that Apollo and the Queen had not been able to and then waited for him to awaken, letting her fuku drop when her work was done.

Hajime lay there for a few more hours, breathing evenly and not stirring, his power stable. His hair was back to normal by the time he woke, and his eyes had returned to their original silver.

"Eliana!" he gasped, but as he sat up, dizziness overcame him, and he realized that she was there, alive and unharmed. "Oh, you're okay. That's good." He closed his eyes to stop the world from spinning. His casual words could not quite hide the worry he had felt, as his tone still held much of it. With a groan, he massaged his temples. "I feel like I've been hit by a truck..."

Eliana started to stroke his hair, her warmth seeping into him, easing the pain. It was getting harder to ease the pain though because he felt it so much. "I'm sorry I worried you. Apollo told me what happened. I didn't think to leave you some sort of message I was okay," she apologized. But in all honesty she wouldn't have been able to do so anyway. It took everything she had just to make it to Sanctuary. She kept stroking her hair. "Hajime... there's something I want to talk to you about... it's about your power..." she told him softly, trying to make sure she worded things right.

"It's trying to take over me," Hajime said. He was matter of fact about it. The dream had left him with that impression quite vividly. "It's dark. I don't know why, but it is. Am I some sort of freak, something that shouldn't exist?" he asked after a few moments. Her hands through his hair was relaxing. The pain was going away, slowly. He wasn't quite that dizzy anymore either. He really wanted to tell Eliana that he liked her, but felt that this wasn't an opportune moment. Especially given that he had almost lost the fight against his power. He'd almost become his dark self.

"What!? No!" she declared adamantly. "You, Hajime, are as pure and excellent a candidate for the Silver Crystal as Queen Serenity herself was!" she assured him, her expression firm, but then it softened into regret. "The problem is the Crystal itself. It's become corrupted over the eons, and it now as a will of its own. That power is trying to control you to take its own vengeance on this universe." Eliana sighed, her hand stilling for a moment. "That power is trying to over whelm you and it's just getting stronger. I've been holding it at bay with my power along with your own will so far. That was why I gave you that ring. It asks as a buffer between you and your power. Your headaches are caused by disturbances in your power against your own aura. When I do things like this-" she resumed stroking his hair, slipping her power into him. "-I'm calming your power and forcing it back within my constraints... that's why I got so tired. I'd done it too many times without recharging my abilities. But I don't mind doing this. I want you to know that," she hurried to add. "I want to be able to help you, and since I'm still not really permitted to fight alongside you, this is all I can do to be of use to you..."

"Eliana..." His will huh? Lately, he felt like he had no will anymore. "Thank you. I never thought of you as useless either." He opened his eyes, looking up at her. "You've actually helped me a lot more than with my power." He felt like he understood more and more of what was going on. "I'm glad you're doing this..." He reached up and touched her hand gently. He didn't feel up to moving quite yet. Pulling away after a few seconds, he sighed. "I..."

She wasn't all together sure what he meant, and as good as said so with the head tilted look of confusion she was giving him. Again she didn't think much of his touching her hand, it having become so common place over the last few days- well that she'd been awake for at least. When he stopped she waited a moment, but he didn't continue. Perhaps he'd forgotten what he was going to say. "Think you can try to stand? You should probably lay down for a bit." She looked to Apollo, who had stayed in his true form. "Help me with him?" she asked and the giant cat got to his feet. He wasn't sure what to do about the bit of knowledge he'd gained from Serenity. He'd guess the boy was starting to like her, but still didn't see any benefit in it for either of them. So he'd planned to interfere... but if those feelings were what was keeping him sane... then how could he?

"Nothing," Hajime said with a shake of his head. Hearing her say something about standing, he nodded, standing up slowly. As Apollo and Eliana helped him to his bed, he shuffled along. He still felt quite weak. "What exactly happened to make me feel like this? Last thing I remember is fighting against the dark me..."

Apollo answered that one. "You sort of lost that fight." He put his huge paws on the bed and hopped up. By the time he had himself settled he was back to the size of a large house cat. "I tried to hold your power back myself, and then Queen Serenity came and calmed your power. She told me that the Crystal's power has become corrupt by a desire for vengeance over the many wrongs committed against the Moon." He stretched a bit and then curled up. "So there you have it. Rest now."

Eliana smiled and nodded. "I'm going to run back to my apartment. It's been a while I'm guessing since I was last there. I'll come back to check on you later though."

Hajime nodded and sighed.

"Well that sucks. If I can't even win against myself, how the hell am I supposed to win against Metallia?" he asked himself quietly after Eliana had left. He looked at the wall with the pictures of Serenity, and sighed. "Thank you Queen," he whispered to the pictures, then rolled over onto his side. Closing his eyes, he slowly fell into a dreamless sleep. It seemed that the dark him had had a sufficient enough scare to stay away for the moment.

Two more weeks passed and they relied heavily on Sailor Starfire, telling her about his power so she would understand. During that time Eliana seemed to get more and more worried about something, but she insisted it was nothing every time. As before, either she or Apollo was with him at all times. She managed to go and talk to Mia and Mikoto a few times as well. Mikoto was willing to help and did- when she could get out of the castle fast enough to be of any help. Mia was still in denial about the whole thing, though she was starting to come around at last. Artemis continuing to stay with her.

They were in class and Eliana let out another sigh. She'd have to tell him today but she didn't feel right about it. It made her sad that she was going to have leave. She sat up straight however as the transfer student entered.

"Hey. I'm Mikoto Didogi. Nice to meet you all," she greeted, a confident grin on her face. She spotted Hajime and Eliana and gave a two fingered salute wave to them. "Yo," she greeted, heading back to an empty not far from them before the teacher excused her.

"Did you run away or something?" Eliana asked, clearly still stunned.

She chuckled. "Nah. I just forced Grams to see it my way and got her permission to live out here for a bit," she said.

Eliana could feel the teacher glaring and flushed slightly. "We'll talk more after class."

Hajime looked over at Eliana. She seemed preoccupied, but he wouldn't push her to tell him. Looking at Mikoto, he smiled.

"Hello there Princess," he said. Feeling the angry glares from some of the guys in class, he frowned in confusion. Realizing what it must look like, always hanging around with three pretty girls, he flushed slightly. He hadn't met Venus yet, but that was fine. He was really overwhelmed by all the attention he had, after so much time avoiding people. That, and he was still wary of his power. The crystal still went with him everywhere. Despite him knowing that it had its own will, he still felt that if left on its own, things would start to happen, and worse than before.

Her eyes flashed and Mikoto gave him a slight glare before shushing him. "I got permission but that doesn't mean I told them who I am. I have a reputation to uphold as the Princess and I sure as hell don't feel like being a goody goody every waking moment." she whispered in a snipish sort of way. Rolling her eyes and shaking her head she leaned back in her chair.

They met up during lunch, Eliana having gone to fetch Megan- leaving Mikoto with Hajime. "So- I hear your powers pretty much evil. Guess that means you can't be expected to help much huh?"

Hajime flinched.

"I would rather help in any way that I can, even if it's my sword. I don't need to use the Crystal's power to use my sword," he said quietly. He felt that he had absolutely no appetite now, and waited for Eliana to return with Megan. Hearing steps on the stairs to the roof, he turned and saw Megan step through the door first, followed by Eliana. "Hello there," he said amiably, closing up his lunchbox and putting it away, untouched.

Mikoto was looking at him speculatively then greeted the two when they came back.

Eliana tilted her head at Hajime. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Yeah... bout that..." Mikoto said. "I may... have said something..." she had a slightly shifty eyed look to her. "I'll give you guys warning now- when I'm not focused on being a Princess, I tend to just- speak without really thinking. So if I say something over the top. Either rude or suggestive or mean... chances are it just didn't come out right... so... yeah.. sorry... I guess... if I upset you..."

"It's fine," Hajime said. "Something happened the other day that just screwed me up a little bit. That's all." He smiled, trying to reassure them as Megan sat down next to him. Eliana, he saw, remained standing.

"What was that?" Megan asked, curious.

"I would rather not talk about it," Hajime said firmly. Looking at Eliana, he nodded. "You look as if you have something you want to say."

She nodded. "It will affect all of you at least a little so I thought I should tell you all at once." she paused a moment and then came right out and said it. "I will be returning to Sanctuary, watching over all of you from there."

Hajime's look was of stunned disbelief, and Megan seemed just a little bit hurt. The silence stretched on for a few minutes before Hajime finally broke it.

"Why exactly are you leaving?" he asked.

Mikoto didn't know her as well, so she was a bit surprised but didn't seem to mind all that much.

That hadn't been received as well as Eliana had hoped it would be. "It's hard to live in the world as a human for me. I'm not use to needing sleep, needing to eat, going to school, talking to people. It's all pretty new to me. Not that I haven't enjoyed it- because I have. But.. well there's things like grocery bills and utilities and rent and- I can't possible keep up with school, a job, and my duties as an observer," she explained a bit sheepishly. "It's not as if you won't see me again. It's just that you won't see me as often. I'll come any time you need my assistance."

"But you can't fight right? So that won't be very often then," Mikoto pointed out, rather bluntly.

Eliana sighed. "Sadly that is true. I'm still not permitted to fight so long as you all are able to do so. And even then-" her eyes grew distant for a moment. "Well I hope such a time doesn't come again."

"Stay with me!" Hajime blurted out. He instantly felt three females looking at him, two glaring as if he were a heathen. "I mean. If you're having trouble with things like bills and stuff, if you're staying with me, you don't have to worry about it. Also, I'll be able to help you with other things. And Apollo would be staying with me even if you left, right? He would be lonely without you," Hajime finished lamely. His cheeks were flushed. Why oh why had he just blurted it out?!

"U-huh..." Mikoto clearly found his explanation flimsy. She barely knew the guy but she now suspected he was probably mildly head over heels for Eliana. She'd seen how he watched her every move. This outburst just made her go from thinking he had a crush to a bit more.

Eliana looked a bit surprised but then she just smiled. "Thanks, but it's not necessary. I don't want to be a burden to anyone. That's why I'm going back to Sanctuary. Apollo will be fine. He could use with a bit of Earth time anyway." she added with a soft giggle.

After lunch had ended, Hajime ended up with Eliana alone.

"Eliana, I truly believe that you would be better off staying here," he said softly. When she gave him a look, he shrugged. "Everything has a purpose. You came here, and you established a persona, a life. If you just quit now, then things might just fall apart." He paused. "I know I would be very sad if you left..."

She seemed to be taking his words not quite as he meant them. "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to make any one feel guilty or anything. "My existence here is very easy to erase. Really, once I go it'll be like i never was. I don't even think the people in the school will remember i was ever there." she assured him.

"No, Eliana, that's not..." Hajime sighed and put his hands on her shoulders. "Eliana, I really don't want you to leave. Please don't leave. I don't think that you quite understood what I meant. You're not making anyone feel guilty or obligated or anything." He shook his head. "You're the first friend I've had in ages, and now you're leaving. Megan probably won't talk to me after you're gone, nor will Mikoto most likely. Just please..." It had hurt him physically to say friend. He more than liked her. He just wasn't sure it was the time to tell her that yet. "Please stay here..."

Eliana listened to his explanation and then put a hand to her mouth, the other crossing over her waist in thought. She hadn't considered that... and she didn't want to make things hard for him or hurt him in anyway... she could hear a bit of pain in his voice as he explained this to her. "Yes but, where would I stay? I won't let you take the couch- and I don't particularly want to have to sleep on a couch indefinitely. Sadly this human form needs sleep and comfortable as your couch is to sit on- it's not meant to be a bed," she explained- not really even knowing he had an extra bedroom. She'd never been in that room or even seen him go in there.

"I have an extra room in my apartment. It's not been used since.. Well, I'll need to clean it since there might be a lot of dust," Hajime said, feeling relieved.


	13. Chapter 11

Later on that day, they headed home, and Hajime showed her the room. Getting out a dust rag, he began to dust off the surface, and the mattress. There hadn't been any sheets on it, and he pulled those and some blankets out and began to make the bed. On the dresser, there was a single picture in a frame. It was of a small family, the woman with red hair, the man with dark brown hair, and a much smaller version of Hajime.

Eliana had gone her own way at the apartment, heading back to her own to 'undo' her presence there. She came back with a simple bag. She really didn't own much of anything. But when she came back she was in casual clothes. A light purple tank top that really made her eyes stand out, and khaki shorts. It was the first time he'd seen her in anything other than her uniform or her fuku. She knocked on the door before entering. "I'm coming in," she called, taking her shoes off at the doorway before going to find Hajime.

She looked the room over and then found the photo. "You look a lot like your Mother," she commented with a soft smile.

Hajime looked over, a small but sad smile on his face. Nodding at her words, he went back to what he was doing.

"Many people say that when they see pictures of her," he said, and stood. He'd finished and was now just getting the pillows fixed. Looking at Eliana, he sighed. "I miss them. They weren't perfect parents, but they were mine."

She couldn't remember parents and so Eliana couldn't really relate. But he sounded so sad... She put the picture down and turned to look at him, her pale eyes very serious and concerned. "This was their room wasn't it? Hajime is it really okay for me to take this room? Honestly, Sanctuary isn't a bad place. I've been there for quite a while. And it's not like you'd never see me again. I'd always be able to come back if you needed me."

"It's fine," Hajime said firmly. "This room has been empty for years. I haven't had any other use for it. No visitors, roommate or anything. Please, just take it as it is." He smiled slightly and went over to her. "I promise, it's fine. Make yourself at home and then come out to the kitchen for dinner." She nodded and then went ahead and unpacked her little bag, which had a pair of school shoes, two uniforms, and a tee-shirt that she wore to sleep in, as well as a few toiletries. She put those in the bathroom and then went out to the kitchen. "Thank you... for doing this... um.. Sorry for the trouble and please take care of me," she requested politely, giving him a little bow. "What can I do to help?"

Hajime smiled.

"I'll take care of you, no worries," he said, answering her first phrase. He knew it was just her being polite, but he felt that he wanted to assure her. He was busy getting some eggs made, along with some rice and some seafood. "Well, right now, I'm nearly finished. I had put most of this on before I started cleaning, so it's cooked by now. All I need is plates and things," he admitted.

She nodded and started to get things out of the cupboards to set the table. She also got out some tuna for Apollo, who had been very quiet about the whole move.

He still didn't know how to take that she was going to live here... with a guy that liked her... even though she was completely clueless of the fact.

The next day was Saturday and so they didn't have school. Instead Eliana wanted to make her rounds to see the other Senshi, planning to introduce Hajime to Mia while she was at it. They were on their way to Mia's house when Eliana felt a familiar pull. There was a Senshi close by- and one that she hadn't met before. She stopped, looking about. "Not here.. but close." she whispered. "Hajime... can you feel that?" she asked. Normally the Moon Senshi could feel her fellow Senshi, but Hajime's power was sadly corrupted, and so she didn't know if the same basic rule of thumb would apply. It hadn't seemed to so far.

"Sense what?" Hajime asked, rather confused. He couldn't feel anything. They were about to cross the street, and he could see a girl with pastel colored hair, but he couldn't really sense anything. "I'm not sure what you're asking Eliana." His tone was utterly confused. A scream echoed down from a nearby alleyway. Whirling, he was just in time to see an inky black creature dash from the alleyway into a building. "Eliana!" he exclaimed. They were the only two there, and he was unsure of what to do. He didn't want to risk using his power, as he knew that it was trying to take him over.

Eliana saw the girl with the light aqua hair that faded to pink and ran. That was her! She had to get to her before-

But the monster was already after the girl- who stared blankly at it, too stunned for the moment to move.

Eliana called up her transformation and did two short distance transportation. One to the girl and then another away from the monster. She quickly called up her energy shield, glad she'd been able to reach Hajime so he wouldn't be facing the monster while she dealt with the Senshi.

"Who are you?" the girl asked, looking around her at the shield of light in confusion.

"I'm Sailor Sun. I will explain more in a bit but for right now I need you to trust me," she held out her staff, focusing on the girl. Soon enough a pen appeared and fell into the girls hands. "Sailor Aurora." she whispered. "Call out Aurora Makeup. You'll find that many questions you have can be answered by doing that."

The girl looked at her pen and then at Sailor Sun, her light green blue eyes full of curiosity.

Doing as she'd been bidden the girl held up her pen. "Aurora Makeup!"

Eliana released her shield, a newly awakened Sailor Aurora standing ready to go. She then hurried forward, a wand in hand. "Northern Lights Barrage!" she called, giving her want a twirl and then a wave.

It was as if the northern lights had come down from the skies and wrapped around the beasts, caging them. The lights grew thicker and brighter until you couldn't even see the beasts anymore and then, they faded back into the sky, the beasts being taken with them.

Rosemary looked at the two, Sailor Sun and Hajime. "Sailor Sun. And... you are... who?" she asked, tilting her head.

'Well she seems nice enough towards him. That's a first,' Eliana thought, letting her fuku drop, as did Rosemary.

"Guess it's rude to ask who someone is without telling them. I'm Rosemary Daigato."

"I am Hajime Tsukino," Hajime said, holding a hand out to her in order to shake hands hello. He was rather relieved that he didn't have to face the monsters. He didn't want to scare off a new recruit just after they first met her.

"So.. are you-?"

"He is, but Hajime's form doesn't have a name," Eliana told her. "Would you be willing to come with us? I'm actually taking Hajime to meet another Senshi right now."

"Sure. Uh- what do I call you- other than Sailor Sun?"

"I'm Eliana," she answered. She led the way to Mia's house and as usual was let right in. "Good Morning Mia-san. How are you doing today?" she asked.

Mia looked up and saw the trio. She got up and gave Eliana a hug, then looked at the other girl quizzically before her eyes landed on Hajime. Her full lips curved into a sensual smile as she walked over to him.

"Well hey there handsome," she purred. Hajime felt heat rise in his cheeks. This girl was the definition of cougar in everything but age.

"Um, hello," he said, trying to back away a little. She didn't let him. For each step he took back, she took one forward. Putting her fingers on his chest, she spoke again.

"Who might you be?" Her eyes were half closed, adding to the sensuality of her face. Hajime looked over at Eliana, looking quite terrorized.

Eliana felt an odd sort of anger rise in her, and so her expression became even more surprised than it would have been otherwise. Why was she angry right now? Why did her heart ache like this? Seeing his expression gave her motivation to move despite her confusion. "Mia what are you doing?" she asked, tilting her head. "That's... flirting yes? Does it work even if it scares men?" she asked. It was a bit more tactless than she usually was, but it was an actual question. Just made far too blunt by her inexplicable irritation.

"Yes, it's flirting," Mia said with a huff. "And no, it doesn't work if it scares the target. He obviously likes someone else, or else he would have fallen for it." Turning back to Hajime she stuck out her tongue. "Well, tell me who you are at least." Hajime adjusted himself and smoothed his hair in an effort to calm himself.

"I'm Hajime," he said, holding a hand out to her in order to shake hands. Mia nodded and took his hand, then pulled him close.

"I'll work on you handsome, so don't think I've given up on you just yet," she purred. Hajime gently disentangled himself and pushed her away.

"You're right, I do like someone else. Very much. So I don't think that you will have much luck," he admitted. Glancing over at Eliana, he shook his head. "I'm afraid this meeting isn't going well. She seems to be much to distracted by me." Mia watched him and instantly understood who it was that he liked.

"Her?!" She whirled and stomped off a little ways, then went over to Eliana. "Well, it looks like we will have to fight over him!" Hajime gave Mia and pained look, then looked at Eliana, and Rosemary too.

"How do I stop this?" he asked Rosemary, rather scared of what might happen.

Eliana hadn't known that he had someone he liked, it caused a bit of a twinge in her. But then suddenly Mia was picking a fight with her. "Fight? What are you talking about? Mia I think you need to calm down." she told her, trying to be reasonable.

Rosemary understood rather quickly as well. "She doesn't know does she?" she asked Hajime quietly with a soft, knowing smile. "Alright Miss Mia that's enough of that." she said walking forward and clapping her hands lightly. "We just came to meet our fellow Senshi, but you don't seem to be in a good mood as it is right now. So I guess Eliana and I will have to come back later," she said, giving a courteous smile as she took Eliana's arm. "Head out with Hajime for now. I'll handle her," she whispered in her ear.

Eliana was a bit confused but she headed over to Hajime while Rosemary stayed behind to handle Mia's temper.

"I'm sorry Hajime... I didn't think it would turn out like that..." she told him as they headed out of the estate.

"Ah, no," Hajime said but it seemed as if Rosemary didn't hear as she was already off talking to Mia. Mia looked at Rosemary as if she were crazy.

"What are you talking about? I'm in a perfectly fine mood!" she insisted, trying to catch a glimpse of Hajime as he left with Eliana.

Hajime shrugged, shaking his head.

"It's fine. To be honest, that caught me totally off guard," he admitted. Glancing sideways at her, he sighed. "Did you understand what she meant by that?" he asked.

"No. I don't understand why she got so upset like that." 'Or why I did for that matter,' she added silently meeting his eyes for a moment. "Honestly why would we need to fight over you?" she didn't understand, not only Mia, but herself as well, and that worried her a bit.

Hajime shrugged. He didn't know why, but he still felt the need to keep his feelings from her.

"I don't know why either. Maybe she just thinks that fighting over me is something that is necessary," he said. "I've seen girls do that with other guys. I don't understand it much myself," he added sheepishly.

Eliana sighed and then shook her head as they waited outside for Rosemary to make it out. They then made a call to Mikoto and Megan to meet up at the apartment so introduce the new Senshi.

Rosemary seemed to be the type that could get along with just about anyone. She didn't take any offense when Mikoto made a comment about her utterly girly she was. In fact she took it as a compliment- which took Mikoto a bit by surprise. She'd meant it that way but after thinking about what she'd said after saying she'd expected to be misunderstood.

In the end Mikoto demanded a shopping trip with Rosemary and the two left once the meet and greet was over.


	14. Chapter 12

Eliana and Hajime stayed home working on homework that would be due Monday and doing a bit of straightening up. They'd been watching a movie in the living room when Eliana fell asleep slumping over and consequently resting on his shoulder.

Hajime didn't notice at first that she was asleep, but when he did, he gently tried to wake her. When she didn't wake, he carefully scooped her up in his arms, and took her to her room. Laying her down on the bed, he pulled an extra blanket out of the closet and covered her with it. On a whim, he leaned down and kissed her forehead after brushing her hair out of her face. Softly, so that he was positive that she couldn't hear, he spoke.

"I love you Eliana..." Standing up straight, he left the room, shutting the door behind him. Sighing, he turned and started to make his way to his own room after turning off the TV in the living room. "Why can't I just tell her when she's awake and alert?" he berated himself silently.

In the morning Hajime had to head out to get some more groceries from the store- Eliana was still asleep, most probably tired from the use of her power the day before. When he got home he did his usual routine without really thinking. "Tadaima."

"Ah, Okairi, Hajime." Eliana called, popping her head around the entryway to the kitchen with a smile. "Oh good! Did you get some more eggs and milk?" she asked. She was wearing an apron and had a spatula in hand. "I just used the last of the eggs to make some pancakes. I wasn't sure when you'd be back though."

Hajime blinked in surprise. So used to saying that to an empty room, or to just Apollo, he hadn't expected a response.

"I did get some more eggs and milk, yes," he answered after a few seconds regaining his bearings. Walking into the kitchen, he had to regain his bearings again. She looked so cute with the apron on. And her smile! He smiled back at her, fighting down the urge to kiss her. "What are you making for breakfast?" he asked.

"Pancakes, bacon, and eggs since your back with some," she told him, looking over her shoulder, still smiling. "I saw a bag of pancake mix and decided to give it a try. Its actually a little hard. I don't want to burn them, but I don't want to under cook them either," she said. "I have started the bacon already, think you can get the eggs going and set the table? Don't want to leave this unattended," she told him, turning her attention back to the frying pan where she worked on the pancakes. She seemed like a little newlywed housewife.

Hajime nearly groaned, but didn't. He didn't want her to think he was being ungrateful for cooking breakfast. He put a hand on her shoulder as he passed her, lingering a bit before he did what he was asked to.

"Sure," he said instead, and put the milk away before grabbing a few of the eggs and proceeding to make them. After the eggs had finished, he set the table and got glasses of milk for both of them.

She was aware of his lingering touch, but didn't think much of it. It was chalked up to one of his casual touches again. Although she felt an odd flutter from it. She wondered if perhaps it was somehow related to her sudden irritation the day before, but she couldn't see how that was possible, and so she ignore it as well. Dishing up the plates she joined him at the table, taking off the apron and returning it to the drawer she'd found it in. They ate in mostly comfortable silence, and Hajime volunteered to do dishes and so Eliana went to take a shower. She discovered however, that she hadn't brought a change of clothes in with her. She could feel that Hajime was in the living room, and she could hear the TV playing softly. So she wrapped a towel around her and opened the door, trying to be quiet so she could slip out. Her pale skin was still damp from the steam of the shower, and her hair was for once unbound and wet, proving to have a soft curl in this state.

Hajime wasn't paying attention much to things, as he had tuned in to a program that he had wanted to watch, but after a moment or two, he did notice. Choking on his drink, he felt the heat rise in his face.

"E-eliana," he stuttered, turning and looking away. He was still trying to stop coughing from choking on his drink. "You could have asked me to bring you a change of clothes." He didn't mean to sound like he was scolding, but that's how it came out.

She'd hoped to sneak past him without him seeing her, but that had failed. She blushed when his eyes locked onto and then she hurried to him- forgetting her near naked state when he started choking. She froze when she reached him and he scolded her. "We- co-consider it payback for when you did the same!...?" she tried to sound firm about it but it came out more of a question than anything. She patted his back, trying to help him clear his lungs of the water he'd inhaled. "Sorry... I just thought I could slip out real quick. Are you okay?" she asked, far more worried about him then her state of dress- or lack thereof.

"In my defense, I didn't think that you were here," Hajime said, finally able to breathe clearly again. He was still trying to avoid looking at her, but really, all he wanted to do, was pull her into his lap and to kiss her until the sun went down. Leaning forward and putting his face in his hands, he sighed. "I won't look. Go on to your room, k?" He was doing his damnedest to be a gentleman, and she was making it rather difficult for him.

She nodded and then went to her room. Once there she leaned against the door, her face growing very flushed. She put her hands to her burning cheeks and sighed. 'What is wrong with me? Am I getting sick?... Have I ever been sick before?'

It took a bit to compose herself but she finally did and dressed, pulling on the only other pair of casual clothes she owned, a teal summer dress. She went back out to the living room, her hair still damp and down. "Ah. You've watched this show before. What's it called?" she asked, settling down on the couch beside him.

"It was an American show a long time ago. I guess they found it and are re-running it here. It's called Mythbusters," Hajime said. He laughed a little when it showed one of the main guys with a missing eyebrow. "His name is Adam I think. They were conducting an experiment and there was a minor explosion that cost the loss of his eyebrow." Looking at her, Hajime blinked. "You look beautiful with your hair down," he said after a moment. Reaching for his drink, he realized it was empty. "Oh. I'm going to grab some more water. Would you like anything to drink?" he asked, standing. She smiled, used to this too. He called her things like pretty or beautiful as a matter of fact she'd learned, not affection. "Water sounds good," she said, tucking her feet under her. Still... it had been a while since he'd called her beautiful, and she found that she like that he thought so. 'I suppose at least around the house I could leave it like this more often,' she decided, fiddling with a lock of the near platinum blonde hair.

Hajime went to the kitchen and got a glass out for Eliana, and then filled both his glass and her glass up with water before taking them out to the living room.

"Here you go." Sitting down, he took a sip of his before setting it on the table. "Do you want to watch something else? We don't have to watch this," he said, motioning to the TV.

"This is fine. I understand English just fine so-"she giggled. "Besides, Adam is rather amusing," she told him, taking a sip of her own water.

It was a few days later she'd asked the girls to meet her out at a park- asking Hajime to stay behind with Apollo until she was sure they could keep Mia at bay from him. Secretly she didn't want to risk that inexplicable anger to threaten her reasoning again and so she didn't want him around Mia unless she was sure Mia wouldn't hit on him like that again.

She asked each girl to transform and give a demonstration of their ability to the others. After all if they were to start working together they needed to know what they were working with. "I'll also- with your permission be setting up a link between your minds and mine. I won't go searching through your thoughts or anything so don't worry. It will just allow me to tell you when and where there is trouble." she explained.

"Sure," Aurora and Mikoto both agreed readily. "You want to do that before or after the demonstration?"

"Well if it's alright with each of you I'll do it right now. I might feel a bit odd. It's sort of like building a bridge between our minds so- please just bear with that until I'm finished. You should adjust to the sensation fairly quickly."

Mia and Megan both nodded as well, but as the strange sensation stared to take shape in their minds, a whole horde of inky black creatures attacked.

"Just standing around in the park? That's not very smart..." came a terribly screechy voice. Metallia was standing further away, her tattered black Victorian dress waving in the wind as her writhing black hair had a life of its own.

"Oh my goodness!" said another voice. "Do you girls need help?!" Another young woman had jumped close to them and let fire a blast of icy air. It froze one of the creatures, letting it fall to the ground to shatter. Her black hair, fading to white, hung loose about her shoulders, curling about her face. A gold tiara sat on her forehead, accented by a sapphire jewel. The rest of her uniform was blue as well, but it was different from both Megan's uniform and the rest of the Senshi's uniforms as well. A pair of thigh high blue boots she wore, a pair of white socks just visible. White stripes went up the boots. The skirt was short, blue with a white waist band, a blue star centered in the middle. A white bow stretched nearly to the ground, attached to the back of the skirt. The blue top was short, leaving her stomach exposed. The sleeves looked like they were made of icicles, but colored the same bright blue as the rest of her uniform, as was the sailor flap. A white bow was attached at the bottom of that, a blue star broach centered. A blue choker with a white star graced her neck, and blue star earrings dangled from her ears. Her gloves were white, fingerless, with blue bands of color at the top, near her elbows, and at her wrist. A creature leaped at her and she held up a hand. Ice flew from her palm to freeze it, and it fell, shattering. "I'm Sailor Asteroid Ice, and I'm here to help you!"

Once again Eliana was struck with how useless she was. She had the strength to fight, just not the means. Knowing she was just going to cause trouble if she stayed in the field she looked to the girls. "I guess this will be the lesson on teamwork i was hoping to give you. Go, I have something else to attend to at the moment." And with that she vanished.

She reappeared beside Metallia. "You look well after so long in prison. I suppose resting outside for nearly two hundred years help with that," she pointed out, her staff in both her hands as she looked at the woman. She felt rather responsible for this whole mess. After Queen Selenity had imprisoned Metallia, Sailor Sun had been regularly reinforcing the prison that held her. It was one of her few exceptions to being an observer. But after Chaos was destroyed, the prison had been weakened, and unfortunately she hadn't noticed until it was far too late.

"Well you heard her, let's clean house," Sailor Earth said, giving her dagger a twirl before stabbing it into the ground. "Wooden puppets!" Wooden vine like roots shot out of the ground, binding as many of the creatures as they could reach.

"Nothern lights barrage!" Sailor Aurora shouted, spinning her wand in the air and then slicing down in the direction of her attack.

"Star Purifying Flame!" Sailor Starfire yelled, and flames spread from the star shaped compact in her hands, taking out more than a few of the creatures. Sailor Asteroid Ice had been deemed the biggest threat and the creatures were swarming her, but she was able to hold her own and to help the others.

"Ice fields of Death," she whispered, and even though it was a whisper, her voice echoed, cold and eerie. Scores of creatures turned to ice and fell, shattering against the ground.

Metallia jumped, looking at Sailor Sun. Holding out a hand, a wicked blade appeared. Instead of answering the question addressed to her, she lashed out, sinking the blade into Sun's side.

"Do not dare to cross me!" she hissed, before stepping a decent distance away and watching. Some of the creatures were scoring blows on the other Senshi.

Hajime had been walking to the park, worried because Eliana was taking longer than she had said she would. When he got to the park, he expected to see a group of Senshi talking. Instead, he saw inky black creatures starting to overwhelm a group of five Senshi, and Eliana on the ground, bleeding. He didn't waste time thinking of the consequences, but twisted his ring and ran towards the mess. His power radiated, and he regretted having to use it. Punching to the side, he threw a creature out of his way.

"Stand down or suffer the everlasting hatred of the Moon!" he shouted, but none of the creatures listened, still swarming. His eyes flashing, he took out his sword, raising it into the air and then bringing it down, slamming the tip into the ground. A black wave of power radiated outwards, disintegrating all of the creatures. Metallia began trembling, and she disappeared. Hajime ran over to Eliana, helping her up. "Please, please be okay..." he said softly, putting a hand over her wound.

As she'd hoped, Metallia had her full attention on Sailor Sun now. She'd keep the woman busy at least so the girls didn't have to worry about her. Worse came to worse she'd trap them both within a Sun barrier. She blocked a few of her thrusts with the dagger using her staff, but she really wasn't cut out for this sort of combat and she ended up losing her footing for just a moment. That was when she felt pain rip through her side and she cried out, falling to the ground.

She felt Hajime when he twisted the ring, her attention having been focused on fighting off Metallia. And then he stopped it all in one moment. No- he was going to lose it if she didn't stop him... She could feel pain threatening to swallow her. As he gently lifted her she bit back a whimper as she found his hand and twisted the ring to make him stop using his power. "I- I'll be fine," she told him, gasping in pain. "S-sailor Earth c-can heal me so-" she blinked, attempting and failing to keep back tears.

The others were there within seconds. "Here, let me see her wound," Mikoto said, her hand glowing a dark green already. She pressed her hand over the wound. "What were you thinking? You can't use your power remember?"

"Yes, but- I knew Metallia would focus on me if I confronted her. And I didn't want you all to have to worry about facing her," Eliana explained. She'd lost a good bit of blood and was feeling a bit light headed, even with the healing. Unfortunately she couldn't be healed as a normal human could. She also couldn't die as easy as one either though. "It was the only thing I could do to help..." she said, her eyes closing.

Hajime had done a good job of controlling his power, even if the effects of it were still there. His sword back in its sheath, he twisted the ring, going back to his civilian clothes. His eyes were shaded slightly darker grey, but as he was focused on Eliana, no one could tell. She was still alive and well, and that was enough to keep the darker him at bay. Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly, trying to calm his shaking hands.

"I'll take her back to the apartment. You girls can come along if you would like." The new girl, Andromeda, volunteered to come, as did Megan and Mia. He nodded, starting off with the rest of them following. Handing Andromeda his key, as she was closest to him, he let her unlock and open the door. Silently, Hajime took Eliana to her room and laid her down, kissing her forehead gently before retreating and closing the door behind him. He looked at the conglomeration of girls. "I know all of you, but you are new," he said to Andromeda. She nodded.

"I am Andromeda. I have just arrived from the asteroid belt outside Jupiter. My Queen told me that there were disturbances here on Earth that I needed to come and investigate. I think that I have found the source." She looked pointedly at Hajime. He nodded, looking up. For the first time since he had used his power in front of the girls, which had, in truth, scared Megan and Mia, they saw his eyes. They seemed even darker now, nearing to a stormy grey rather than the pure silver of their original color. Andromeda took a step back.

"I am the disturbance. The Silver Crystal has been corrupted by the millennia of wrongs done to the moon, and it has taken on a will of its own." He took a deep breath and put his hands to his head, forcing the darker self back. Looking up again, his eyes were once again pure silver. "It is trying to take me over. Eliana is helping to keep the power in check, but each time I use it, the seal weakens. I try to not use it, but today was an exception. I needed to." He clenched his fists at his sides. "If we lose her, I fear for my control over my darker self..."

The others agreed, rather shaken by the display of his power. Eliana had passed out on the way back, her head lulling against his shoulders. As he laid her down she didn't stir at all.

It was after his explanation that Apollo- not small Apollo but full sized wings and all- came out and growled low. "Sit down or I will pin you down. Until she wakes back up I'll have to keep your power in check. Since you went and let her get hurt." the big cat took another step forward, for which the girls took one back. "Oh calm down. I'm Apollo, Sailor Sun's companion." He put one huge paw on Hajime's chest, his body glowing with his energy.

Sighing in resignation, Hajime sat on the couch, letting Apollo boss him around. He knew that this was to help save everyone from him, but he wasn't sure he really appreciated being treated like the bad guy. There was no option to explain that he had got there too late to prevent what Metallia had done to Eliana. Mia had realized in the park that she couldn't quite compete with the emotion that Hajime felt for Eliana, so she decided to just be his friend.

"I will go get us water," Andromeda said. Her speech was rather stilted, as if she had come from another century, not another planet. Hajime nodded, truly weary.

"If I had known... I would have worked harder," Megan said finally. She'd known from the aura that it was bad, but not as bad as what she'd learned today. "I would have made sure that you didn't have to use that power." Hajime shook his head.

"There's no reason to feel guilty. Eliana and I decided to keep the truth from you in order to keep you all safe," he said quietly. He was looking down. Sensing that Apollo was angry at him for more than just letting Eliana get hurt, Hajime just chose to stay as quiet as possible. Andromeda came back with a tray of glasses of water for everyone, Hajime accepting his gratefully.

"Well I know one thing," Mia said finally. Artemis was with her, he having come along for the ride. Luna was with Mikoto. Both had run to notify Apollo of what was going on when the fight had started, and had ended up staying at the apartment when they'd felt Hajime's power. Artemis looked up at her, confused. Her tone was determined and strong, something that he knew from her, but this was not the spoiled child from before. "I'm going to work harder so that Eliana doesn't ever get into a situation like this again," she added. Megan nodded and agreed.

"I do not know Eliana as well as you others do, but I will agree. I wish to work alongside you, and to learn your ways. I will not abandon comrades on the eve of battle," Andromeda added quietly. Hajime nodded, smiling a little, relieved that they were deciding to work together, rather upset that it had taken Eliana's injury to persuade the most stubborn of them.

Mikoto and Rosemary also bother agreed as well. They stayed for a few more minutes and then all the girls- and Luna and Artemis- left.

Once the door shut and he could no longer feel them near the building Apollo shoved Hajime, the whole couch toppling over. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" He demanded hotly. When Hajime started to ask what he was doing, Apollo didn't let him finish. "Not only did Eliana end up hurt, but you have the audacity to KISS her?!" His hackles here raised and he was glaring at Hajime, his golden eyes flashing with anger.

"You don't own her," Hajime said, his voice ice. This he knew, would catch Apollo off guard, which it did. Hajime was able to extricate himself from the huge cat's paws. "I did nothing untoward to her." Brushing himself off and gathering up the empty cups, he took them to the kitchen before returning to the living room. "And if you didn't notice through your jealousy, I am well able to handle myself at this moment in time."


End file.
